CIHM 
Microfiche 
Series 
(IVIonographs) 


ICIVIH 

Collection  de 
microfiches 
(monographies) 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


'♦Mri;?*>".'^:A,,»5-i^;r'  wp'a^'s  \^iWi.r'*i'%/faiKs«^i*fflB«s*iiSi«a«ftai^ 


"'^fl*.*'.,,-*'-. 


'S'^.i'i ' 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes  /  Notes  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best  original 
copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this  copy  which 
may  be  bibliographically  unique,  which  may  alter  any  of 
the  images  in  the  reproduction,  or  which  may 
significantly  change  the  usual  method  of  filming  are 
checked  below. 

r~7l  Coloured  covers  / 
I — I   Couverture  de  couleur 

□   Covers  damaged  / 
Couverture  endommag6e 

□    Covers  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Couverture  restaur^e  et/ou  pellicul^e 

I I    Jover  title  missing  /  Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 

I I   Coloured  maps  /  Cartes  g6ographiques  en  couleur 

r^   Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)  / 
I — I    Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 

r~T  Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations  / 
-,  .;hes  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


i-L.-fi  with  other  material  / 
L  .    Poii^  ,vec  d'autres  documents 


D 
D 


D 


D 


wnly  edition  available  / 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion  along 
interior  margin  /  La  reliure  serr^e  peut  causer  de 
I'ombre  ou  de  la  distorsion  le  long  de  la  marge 
int^rieure. 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restorations  may  appear 
within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these  have  been 
omitted  from  filming  /  II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages 
blanches  ajout6es  lors  d'une  restauration 
apparaissent  dans  le  texte,  mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait 
possible,  ces  pages  n'ont  pas  et6  film6es. 

Additional  comments  / 
Commentaires  suppl6mentaires: 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire  qu'il  lui  a 
6X6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details  de  cet  exem- 
plaire qui  sont  peut-6tre  uniques  du  point  de  vue  bibli- 
ographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier  une  image  reproduite, 
ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une  modification  dans  la  m6tho- 
de  normale  de  filmage  sont  indiqu^s  ci-dessous. 

I      I  Coloured  pages  /  Pages  de  couleur 

I I   Pages  damaged  /  Pages  endommag6es 

□   Pages  restored  and/or  laminated  / 
Pages  restaur^es  et/ou  pellicul^es 

Q  Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed  / 
Pages  dteolor^es,  tachet^es  ou  piqu^es 

I      I   Pages  detached  /  Pages  d6tach6es 

\y\   Showthrough / Transparence 

□   Quality  of  print  varies  / 
Quality  in^gale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material  / 
Comprend  du  materiel  suppl6mentaire 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata  slips, 
tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  totalement  ou 
partiellement  obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une 
pelure,  etc.,  ont  6t6  film6es  h  nouveau  de  fafon  k 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 

Opposing  pages  with  varying  colouration  or 
discolourations  are  filmed  twice  to  ensure  the  best 
possible  image  /  Les  pages  s'opposant  ayant  des 
colorations  variables  ou  des  decolorations  sont 
film§es  deux  fois  afin  d'obtenir  la  meilleure  image 
possible. 


□ 


D 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below  / 

Ce  document  est  filmi  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu4  ei-dessout. 


10x 

14x 

18x 

22x 

26x 

30x 

y 

1 

12x 

16x 

20x 

24x 

7Ry 

39» 

LV^jrasaouRKi: 


E3Wffi.^flp*esysgas-a>-yfcjfftfg»«g'^'""'^a<^  ' 


" '  '-'iAf  '»«•'»■ 


The  copy  filmed  har«  Hm  b««n  reproduced  thanks 
to  tho  9«n«ro«itv  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


The  imagM  appasring  Kara  ara  tha  bast  quality 
poasible  considering  tha  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  centraet  apecificetiona. 


Original  copies  in  printed  peper  covers  mrm  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  pege  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  imprae- 
sion.  or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  sre  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  pege  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  e  printed 
or  illuatratad  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  eech  microfiche 
shell  contain  the  symbol  — •-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED").  or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"). 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charu,  etc..  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  trm  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hend  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


1  2  3 


1 

Z 

4 

5 

L'cxamplair*  fiimi  fut  raproduit  grica  i  la 
Otniresit*  da: 

Blbliothaque  nationals  du  Canada 


Las  imagas  suivantaa  ont  iti  raproduitat  avac  la 
plus  grand  soin.  compta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattat*  da  raxamplaira  filmi,  at  an 
cenformit4  avac  las  conditions  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 

Las  sxamplairas  oriyinaux  dont  la  couvartura  an 
papiar  ast  imprimaa  sont  filmSs  an  commancant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  soit  par  la 
darniAra  paga  qui  compona  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  la  tacond 
plat,  salon  la  cas.  Tous  las  autras  axamplairas 
originaux  sont  filmAs  an  common$ant  par  la 
pramiAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'imprassion  ou  d'illustration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  darniira  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
omprainta. 

Un  daa  symbolas  suivants  apparditra  sur  la 
darniira  imaga  da  chaqua  microficha,  talon  la 
cas:  la  symbols  -^>  signifia  "A  SUIVRE",  la 
symbola  ▼  signifia  "FIN". 

Las  cartas,  planchas.  tablaaux,  ate  pauvant  atra 
filmas  A  das  taux  da  raduction  diffSrsnts. 
Lorsqua  la  documant  ast  trap  grand  pour  *tra 
rs^roduit  an  un  saul  clicha.  il  ast  films  S  partir 
da  I'angia  supAriaur  gaucha.  da  gaucha  *  droita. 
at  da  haut  an  bas.  an  pranant  la  nombra 
d'imagas  nicsssaira.  Las  diagrammas  suivants 
illustrant  la  mathoda. 


u 


2  3 

5  6 


MICKOCOfY   RESOLUTION    TEST  CHART 

(ANSI  and  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2) 


1^ 

t^ 

1^ 
Ui 

Li 

■  12 
1m 

1^ 

la 

IK 

Mmm 

m 

1.8 


^    APPLIED  IM/1GE    Ir 


1653   Cost    Main    Strtet 

Rochesltr,    New    York  14609        USA 

(716)    482  -  0300  -  Phone 

(716)    288  -  5989  -  Fax 


"^^^SffT 


Karageorges — Liberator  of  Serbia 


SERBIA:  A  MCrTCIf 


BY 

HELEN  LEAH  REED 

AUTHOR    OF     "naPOLE<     I'S     VOUNC     NEIGHBOR' 
"miss  THEODORA,"  ETC. 


0 


writ; EN  AND  PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  BENEFIT  OF  THE 

SI  ri'.i  •  X   1)1'  ri;i  ^s  f  I  \: , 

555  BoYLSTON  Street,  Boston 
1917 


Copyright,  1916 
By  Helen  Leah  Reed 


THE  •  FtlllPTON  •  PKESS 
NORWOOD      M«SS'i;-S'A 


SERBIA,  valiant  daughter  oj  the  Ages, 
Happiness  and  light  should  be  thy  portion! 
Yet  thy  day  is  dimmed,  thine  heart  is  heavy; 
Long  bast  thou  endured  —  a  little  longer 
Bear  thy  burden,  Jor  a  Jair  tomorrow 
Soon  will  gleam  upon  thy  flower-spread  valleys, 
Soon  will  brighten  all  thy  shadowy  mountains; 
Soon  will  sparkle  on  thy  Joaming  torrents 
Rushing  toward  the  world  beyond  thy  rivers. 
Bulgar,  Turk  and  Magyar  long  assailed  thee. 
Now  the  Teuton  s  cruel  hand  is  on  thee. 
Though  he  break  thy  heart  and  rack  thy  body, 
'Tis  not  bis  to  crush  thy  lofty  spirit. 
Serbia  cannot  die.     She  lives  immortal, 
Serbia  —  all  thy  loyal  men  bring  comfort 
Fighting,  fighting,  and  thy  far-flung  banner 
Blazons  to  the  world  tby  high  endeavor, 
—  This  thy  strife  for  brotherhood  and  freedom  — 
Like  an  air-free  bird  unknowing  bondage. 
Soaring  far  from  carnage,  smoke  and  tumult, 
Serbia  —  thy  soul  shall  live  forever! 
Serbia,  undaunted,  is  immortal! 


m 


Among  comparatively  recent  books  in  English 
accessible  to  the  general  reader  are: 

Servia  and  the  Servians 

Mijatovicb  —  L.  C.  Page  Co. 
The  Servian  People 

Lazarovicb-Hrebelianovicb,  2  vols.  —  Scribners 
Servia  by  the  Servians 

Aljred  Stead —  Heinemann 
The  Slav  Nations 

Tucic —  Hodder  and  Stoughton 
Serbia,  her  People,  History  and  Aspirations 

Petrovitcb  —  Stokes 
The  Story  of  Servia 

Cburcb  — Kelly 
Hero -Tales  and  Legends  of  the  Serbians 

PetToiiub  —  Harrap  and  Co. 
With  Serbia  into  Exile 

Fortier  Jones  —  The  Century  Company 
The  spelling  of  names  follows  "Servia  by  the  Servians,"  except  "Serb." 

The  author  is  indebted  to  some  of  these  books 
for  facts  embodied  in  this  Httle  sketch  —  as  well 
as  to  several  persons  famihar  with  Serbia. 

She  gives  warm  thanks  to  Madame  Slavko 
Grouitch,  wife  of  the  Serbian  Secretary  for 
Foreign  affairs,  who  first  interested  her  in  Serbia. 


SERBIA:  A  SKETCH 


I.    SERBIA:    STARTING 

ERBIA,  younger  sister  of  the  Nations, 
has  indeed  had  a  younger  sister's 
portion.  In  her  early  years  she  grew 
up  with  little  guidance  from  older 
and  wiser  members  of  the  family.  She  did  not 
have  the  advice  that  she  needed.  Perhaps  she 
would  not  have  followed  it,  though  on  occasion 
she  has  shown  more  docihty  than  many  of  the 
family. 

It  took  her  a  long  time  to  find  herself;  she  had 
troubles  in  her  household,  and  it  was  her  first 
endeavor  to  get  the  factions  to  unite  and  let  her 
be  the  acknowledged  head  of  the  house.  She 
beheved  it  was  her  ultimate  destiny  to  govern 
them  all  —  that  this  was  for  their  good. 

When  she  had  made  herself  mistress  of  her 
own  house,  she  tried  to  stand  alone  —  to  be  inde- 
pendent of  her  neighbors.  She  had  no  wish  to 
dominate  them.  She  did  not  try  to  aggrandize 
herself  at  their  expense,  nor  did  she  take  up 
weapons  against  them.  But  she  wished  them  to 
acknowledge  her  head  of  her  own  household, 
just  as  those  within  her  house  had  done.  She 
even    was    willing    to    be    called    a    Princess 


3 
I 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


—  providing  she  governed  her  household  well. 
But  almost  hidden  from  the  rest  of  Europe  by 
her  mountains,  kept  by  barriers  from  easy  ac- 
ross to  the  rest  cf  the  world,  the  other  Nations 
paid  little  attention  to  her.  She  grew  up  almost 
unnoticed  by  the  world  —  proud  and  strong, 
simple  in  her  tastes,  pious  in  her  own  way  (for 
her  church  was  not  the  church  of  most  of  her 
neighbors),  and  thoughtful,  if  ill  educated. 

She  was  not  bookish  in  those  early  days;  she 
was  too  'ndifferent,  perhaps,  to  letters.  Had 
she  kept  journal,  we  could  now  embroider  L-^r 
story  with  more  brilliant  thread?  Her  lack  of 
education  was  jjerhaps  rather  her  misfortune 
than  her  fault.  Those  who  knew  her  realized 
her  many  fine  qualities,  yet  she  made  few  friends 
beyond  her  own  borders,  —  and  because  she  was 
independent  and  poor,  her  richer  neighbors  were 
suspicious  of  her  and  jealous.  This  one  and  that 
one  set  upon  her.  They  were  jealous  when  she 
first  put  on  regal  robes.  They  were  afraid  hat 
she  wished  to  enlarge  her  possessions  at  t.ieir 
expense,  and  one  of  them,  who  iiad  assumed 
complete  lordship  over  Serbia  and  all  her  sisters, 
was  constantly  threatening  her,  pretending  at 
times  that  if  she  could  help  him  against  the  foe 
from  Asia  who  was  threatening  them  both,  she 
should  be  acknowledged  of  royal  -'nk.  This 
did  not  wholly  satisfy  her.  ller  t  .tions  had 
gro'.vn.  She  herself  was  reaching  out  for  the 
Imperial  purple.     She  felt  that  if  she  wore  it. 


Serbia:   starting  3 

she  might  better  defend  herself  and  her  relatives 
beyond  the  mountains  from  the  Asiatic  hordes. 
Then  came  the  great  test  —  and  from  then 
ahnost  until  to-day  Kossovo  has  been  a  day  of 
mourning  1 


HEN  the  fair,  gray-eyed  an- 
cestors of  the  modern  Serb 
canie  south  from  their  home 
in  Galicia,  moving  westward 
from  the  shores  ot  the  Black  Sea,  along 
the  left  bank  of  the  Danube,  they  crossed 
the  river  and  occupied  the  northwest 
corner  of  the  Balkan  Peninsula.  How 
long  they  had  lived  in  Gahcia  we  need 
not  ask,  but  they  bore  with  them  tradi- 
tions of  a  catastrophe  in  India  that  was 
probably  the  cause  of  their  remote  fathers' 
leaving  that  c  ;untry. 

Pliny  and  Ptolemy  mention  the  Serbs, 
and  we  know  that  for  one  hundred  years 
at  least  previous  to  625  a.d.  they  were 
at  war  with  the  Empire.  The  Roman 
Empire  was  then  slowly  disintegrating, 
and  in  the  Balkans  there  was  rio  power 
to  protect  the  Romanized  Illyria  from 
the  northern  invaders  who  in  prehistoric 
times  had  driven  away  the  aboriginal 
inhabitants. 


SERBIA:     STARTING  5 

It  matters  little  whether  the  Emperor 
Heraclius    invited    the    Serbs    to    settle 
down  in  the  northwest  Byzantine  prov- 
inces lately  devastated  by  barbar''ins,  on 
condition   that   they   would   defend   the 
Empire    against    the    Tartar    Avars,    or 
whether    he    merely    accepted    the    fact 
that  they   had  entered  these  provinces 
and  must  stay  there.    He  made  an  agree- 
ment of  peace  with  the  Serbs  —  and  this 
marks  the  beginning  of  their  known  his- 
tory.    He  desired  a  buffer  State,  as  the 
neighbors   of  the   Serbs   so   often   have 
desired  in   later  times.     The  lands  the 
newcomers  then  occupied  are  the  Serb 
lands   of  to-day  —  Serbia,    Montenegro, 
Bosnia,  Herzegovina,  Old  Serbia,  Mace- 
donia, Dalmatia,  the  Banat,  and  to  an 
extent  Croatia  and  Western  Bulgaria  — 
practically  the  ideal  Pan-Serbia,  but  in 
this  Httic  sketch,  so  far  as  it  is  possible, 
by  "Serbia"  is   meant  the  Kingdom  of 
Serbia,    at    the    north    of    the    Balkan 
Peninsula. 
The  Kingdom  of  Serbia  is  bounded  by 


■i 

-» 


6  SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 

Bosnia,  Old  Serbia,  Bulgaria,  Roumania, 
the  Banat,  and  Slavonia.  The  boundary 
rivers  are  the  Danube,  on  the  north 
separating  it  from  Hungary  and  on  the 
northeast  from  Roumania;  the  Drina, 
on  the  northwest  from  Bosnia;  the 
Save,  on  the  northwest  from  Croatia 
and  Slavonia;  the  Timok,  on  the  north- 
east from  Bulgaria.  Various  mountain 
ranges  on  the  west  separate  it  from 
Bosnia,  on  the  south  and  southwest  from 
Turkey,  and  on  the  south  and  southeast 
from  Bulgaria. 

Until  the  tenth  century,  except  Pliny 
and  Ptolemy,  the  ♦.".mperor  Constantine 
Porphyrogenites  is  the  only  historian  to 
speak  of  the  Serbs,  and  he  but  briefly;  yet 
their  history  in  those  three  centuries  after 
their  arrival  was  an  epitome  of  their  his- 
tory in  later  years  in  the  Balkan  Penin- 
sula. The  general  movement  was  the 
same.  First,  a  constant  struggle  on  the 
one  side  to  establish  a  union  of  the  ju- 
panias  and  on  the  other  side  a  constant 
resistance  to  such  centralization.    A  ju- 


SERBIA:     STARTING  7 

pania  may  be  roughly  defined  as  a  county 
withii  whose  limits  lived  clans  more  or 
less  related  to  one  another.  The  ruler 
was  a  lupan,  and  it  was  not  strange  that 
the  more  powerful  Jupans  should  tend 
to  absorb  their  weaker  neighbors.  The 
successful  man  took  the  title  of  Grand 
Jupan.  Jealousy  of  the  Grand  Jupan 
would  lead  to  assassination,  dethrone- 
ment, and  decentralization  —  and  then 
would  come  a  repetition  of  the  violent 
and  bloody  story. 

Another  element  of  disorder  in  Serbia 
was  the  ancient  Slavonic  rule  that  a 
Jupan  might  be  succeeded,  not  by  his 
son  but  by  the  oldest  member  of  his 
family.  It  was  hardly  to  be  counted 
against  a  strong  Jupan  that  he  should 
try  to  arrange  for  his  son  to  succeed  him 
—  yet  this  added  to  the  troubles  of  the 
Sei^bs. 

A  third  and  later  cause  of  Serb  trouble 
was  the  Church.  The  Greek  Emperor 
and  the  Greek  Church  on  the  one  side, 
and  the  Roman  Catholic  Chuich  repre- 


I 


8 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


scnted  by  Venice  and  Hungary  on  the 
other,  were  continually  warring,  not  only 
for  territory  but  for  influence  in  the  Serb 
provinces.  Yet  in  spite  of  apparent 
wavering,  the  Serbs  from  the  time  they 
adopted  Christianity  have  been  constant 
to  the  Church  of  their  early  choice. 

Finally,  the  founding  in  the  seventh 
century  of  the  Bulgarian  kingdom,  on 
the  eastern  and  southeastern  frontiers  of 
Serbia,  added  to  the  dangers  of  this 
tempestuous  little  nation.  After  the 
Frank  and  Bulgarian  Emperors  in  the 
first  quarter  of  the  ninth  century  had  for 
some  time  wrangled  over  the  Serbian 
tribes,  the  Bulgarians  at  last  succeeded 
in  placing  a  garrison  in  Belgrade.  The 
Bulgarians  ruled  Rascia  for  seven  years, 
but  it  was  like  ruling  an  uninhabited 
land,  as  the  larger  part  of  the  Serbians 
had  run  away  to  Croatia. 

Almost  two  hundred  years  after  the 
agreement  with  Heraclius  the  Serbs  had 
a  strong  Jupan  who  carried  out  the  prin- 
ciples   of    concentration.      This    Vishe- 


SERBIA:        TARTING 


slav  was  probably  a  descendant  of  that 
Visheslav  who  had  s  ^ned  the  agreement 
with  the  Greek  Emp^.ror.  His  descend- 
ants, of  whom  the  reatest  was  Vlas- 
timir,  for  three  generations  contributed 
to  the  unity  of  Serbia  by  defending  it 
against   Bulp;ar    and    F  ank,    who   were 


constantly 
rectly  attai 
the  ninth   ( 
the  Macedi 
again  the  si 
and  accept 
the  reign  o 


cinp;  e^  ri  when  not  di- 
ImNu  is  the  end  of 
y,  n  8  ,  unH^r  Basil 
'he  xrbs  icknowledged 
ty  af  the  urcek  Empire 
L-nr  .tianity  his  was  in 
lert"  hut  after  his  death 
almost  all  A  th*  tireck  i>erb  provinces 
were  lost  t     T'^.n   xmeon  of  Bulgaria. 

Though   be;'       ret?ovi  red  part  of  her 
lost  pre     nces  aid  not  hold  them. 

The   po!  tical  ci    ol    the   Serbs   had 

moved   to   Zet  negro)    and   the 

mystic  Prince  j  i  Vladimir  in  the 
latter  part  of  iHt  tenth  century,  some- 
times called  Kin^  of  Zct  ,  tried  in  vain 
to  stop  the  triumphal  narch  of  Tsar 
Samuel   of   Bulgaria   th.uugh   the   Serb 


to 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


provinces.  He  himself  was  taken  a 
prisoner  to  Samuel's  court,  where  he 
married  the  Tsar's  daughter,  Kossara. 
He  returned  to  Zeta  as  rcigni.  g  Prince 
under  the  suzerainty  of  Bulgaria,  but 
in  1 015  he  was  murdered  by  Samuel's 
heir,  anti  he  now  is  venerated  as  a  saint 
in  Serbia.  The  first  Serb  novel,  "Vladi- 
mir and  Kossara,"  published  in  the 
thirteenth  century,  is  founded  on  the 
life  of  this  Prince. 

Zeta  was  too  far  from  the  racial  center 
of  Serbia  to  be  a  good  political  center  and 
soon  the  disintegration  of  the  first  Serb 
kingdom  began.  Although  Serbia  re- 
covered the  provinces  Bulgaria  had  taken, 
she  was  unable  to  stand  alone,  and  grudg- 
ingly accepte .  Greek  suzerainty  until 
Prince  Voislav  —  cousin  of  Vladimir  of 
Zeta  —  stai  ted  a  successful  revolt  against 
the  Greeks  and  united  under  his  own  rule 
Zeta,  Trebinje,  and  Zahumle.  His  son, 
Michel  Voislavich,  annexed  the  Jupania 
of  Rascia.  In  1072  he  proclaimed  him- 
self King  and  received  the  crown  from 


It   * 


Serbia:   starting 


II 


Gregory  VII.  This  was  an  effort  to  free 
Serbia  from  the  Greek  overlordship, 
as  expressed  in  the  Greek  Church.  In 
the  next  reign  Serbia  became  better 
known  to  the  world  when  she  welcomed 
the  Crusaders  under  Raymond  of  Toi-- 
louse,  passing  through  on  their  way  to 
the  Holy  Land.  Then  came  brighter 
days  for  Serbia.  Stephen  Nemanya, 
Grand  Jupan  of  Rascia,  who  lived  near 
Novi  Bazar  (ii 22-1 199),  planned  the 
union  of  all  the  jupanias  in  one  kingdom 
under  one  king.  This  he  practically  ac- 
complished, for  though  unable  to  include 
Bosnia,  within  ten  years  of  his  acces- 
sion he  had  almost  doubled  his  territory. 
Later,  when  Stephen's  ambition  grew, 
he  received  Frederick  Barbarossa,  pass- 
ing through  with  his  Crusaders,  and  gcve 
him  every  honor  due  the  Empire  when  he 
visited  Nish  in  11 88,  and  treated  him  so 
liberally  that  Barbarossa  —  at  least  this 
is  something  more  than  rumor  —  was 
considering  a  marriage  between  his  son 
and  Stephen's  daughter  when  death  put 


12 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


an  end  to  the  alliance.  In  the  next  reign 
the  Emperor  Henry  VI  planned,  with 
the  help  of  the  Serbs,  to  conquer  the 
Byzantine  Empire.  But  again  death 
took  the  Emperor  before  the  plans  were 
completed. 

Another  notable  act  of  Stephen's  was 
his  attack  on  the  Greek  provinces  as  an 
ally  of  the  King  of  Hungary.  Stephen 
Nemanya  assumed  the  double-eagle  as 
the  insignia  of  his  dignity,  but  though 
he  founded  the  first  real  Kingdom  of 
Serbia,  and  was  called  King,  he  was 
never  crowned. 

Toward  the  close  of  his  distinguished 
career,  in  1196,  weary  of  the  world,  he 
withdrew  to  the  Monastery  Hclinder  on 
Mt.  Athos,  where  years  before  his 
youngest  son  Rastko  had  retired. 
Stephen  died  after  three  years  of  mo- 
nastic life.  The  historic  records  of 
Serbia  begin  with  his  reign. 

Rastko,  known  in  the  Church  as  Sava 
and  afterwards  canonized,  was  a  man  of 
active    temperament  —  a    statesman    as 


SERBIA:     STARTING 


13 


well  as  a  churchman.  He  used  his  wis- 
dom and  his  learning  to  benefit  his 
country. 

Stephen,  son  of  Nemanya,  was  the 
first  crowned  King  of  Serbia.  He  kept 
off  f  -  -ign  enemies,  and  Serbia,  no  longer 
dreading  attacks,  began  to  develop  some 
of  her  mineral  resources.  She  made  a 
beginning,  too,  of  educating  her  people. 
In  the  next  two  or  three  generations  of 
rulers  there  were  quarrels  among  mem- 
bers of  the  ruling  family.  Outside,  too, 
the  Magyars  began  to  press  upon  the 
little  kingdom.  But  on  the  whole  Serbia 
was  united,  —  mindful,  perhaps,  of  St. 
Sava's  motto:  "Only  Union  is  Serbia's 
Salvation." 

Stephen  the  Sixth,  or  "The  Great," 
won  victories  over  the  Greek  Emperors, 
the  Tartars,  and  the  Bulgarians.  He 
helped  the  Greek  Emperor  against  the 
Turks,  now  becoming  formidable,  and 
as  part  of  his  reward  had  the  Emperor's 
daughter  given  him  in  marriage.  But 
this  led  to  domestic  unhappiness  in  his 


14 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


later  years  and  some   loss  of  territory. 
For  his  wife  tried  to  keep  his  son  Stephen 
from  his  inheritance.     In  turn,  Stephen's 
party   set   upon   the   King   and   choked 
him  to  death.    Though  Stephen  Dushan 
may  have  had  no  hand  in  it,  this  murder 
clouds  his  reputation.     Stephen  Dushan 
is  a  contradictory   character  —  by  some 
regarded  as  the  murderer  of  his  father, 
by   others   an   idealist   to   be   compared 
with     King    Arthur    or    with     Roland. 
Stephen    Dushan    (Dctchanski),    great- 
grandson  of  Stephen  Nemanya,  came  to 
the  throne  in  1331  and  in  ten  years  had 
gained  Albania  and   Epirus  and   finally 
all  Macedonia  except  Salonika.     He  was 
practically    suzerain    of    Bulgaria.     He 
freed  the  Church,  which  long  since  had 
drifted    from    Rome   back   to    Byzance. 
Now    he   made   it   independent   of  the 
Greek   Emperor,  constituting  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Fetch,  Archbishop,  or  rather 
Patriarch,  of  Serbia. 

Noted  both  as  a  soldier  and  a  states- 
man, Stephen  had  wider  plans  than  Vlasi- 


SERBIA:     STARTING 


15 


mir  or  Nemanya.  The  Turks  were  now 
looming  dangerously  in  the  East,  The 
Greek  Empire  was  tottering.  With  it, 
the  rest  of  Eastern  Europe  might  fall, 
including  little  Serbia  —  one  of  the 
smallest  of  all  the  little  principalities. 
But  Serbia,  if  small,  was  brave,  and 
Dushan  hoped  to  proclaim  a  Serbo-Greek 
Empire  to  head  off  the  Asiatic  hordes. 
To  accomplish  this  he  took  certain  terri- 
tory from  the  Greek  Empire  and,  pro- 
claiming himself  Emperor  of  the  Serbs 
and  Greeks,  was  solemnly  crowned  at 
Ukslib  at  Easter,  1346.  Nine  years 
later  he  tried  to  unite  Bulgars  and  Serbs 
and  Greeks  against  the  Turks.  With  a 
large  army  of  about  one  hundred  thou- 
sand trained  soldiers  he  ^vas  almost  at 
the  gates  of  Constantinople  when  a 
sudden  illness  overtook  him  and  he  died. 
Under  Dushan  Serbia  had  very  nearly 
reached  her  highest  ambition  —  complete 
dominion  over  the  Balkan  Peninsula. 
Dushan  ruled  also  a  large  part  of  the 
former  Byzantine  lands  in  Europe. 


i6 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


*    .: 


Of   farther-reaching   good   for    Serbia 
than   his   territorial   conque^tci   was   the 
Zakonik  or  Code  of  Laws,  completed  in 
1354  under  Dushan's  direction.     It  con- 
tained not  only  the  best  of  the  old,  but 
many  new,  laws  resulting  from  Dushan's 
knowledge   of   his    country's    needs.     It 
ranks   high   among    medieval   codes   of 
law.     After  his  death,  his  empire  sepa- 
rated itself  into  its  elements  —  a  number 
of  small  states  whose  rulers  were  fighting 
one  another  while  the  Turks  were  sub- 
duing Thrace. 

With  the  death  of  Dushan  in  1355  the 
greatness  of  Serbia  also  passed  away. 
His  son,  Urosh,  could  not  hold  what  his 
father  had  gained,  and  little  by  little 
parts  of  his  Empire  fell  off  from  the 
cent^T,  until  but  a  small  fragment  re- 
in r  i.  Yet  there  were  sti!'  many  stout- 
he.  d  Serbs  —  many  who  wished  to 
do  tlieir  utmost  to  throw  off  the  Turks 
now  pressing  upon  them.  When  Urosh 
died  childless,  the  direct  Nemanya 
dynasty  came   to  an  end,  but    in   1371 


SERBIA:     STARTING 


17 


1 


1 


Lazcir  Grebclyanovitch  of  the  Ncmanya 
family  was  elected  ruler  of  the  Serbs. 
Though  called  Tsar,  he  would  not  formally 
take  the  title.  Devoted  to  his  country, 
he  thr-ew  all  his  energy  into  forming  a 
Christian  League  against  the  Turks. 

But  tlic  wily  Oriental  circumvented 
him  by  attacking  the  members  of  the 
League  one  by  one.  For  nearly  twenty 
years  after  that  there  were  many  en- 
counters between  Turks  and  Serbians. 
At  the  first  attack  on  Nish,  Serbia  so 
humbled  herself  as  to  agree  to  pay 
tribute  in  gold  and  in  soldiers  for  the 
Sultan's  armies  on  condition  the  Turks 
would  leave  her  alone. 

Later  Lazar  did  his  utmost  to  save 
poor  Serbia  from  further  disgrace.  He 
united  with  the  Ban  of  Bosnia,  also  a 
descendant  of  Stephen  Nemanya,  and 
together  they  gained  many  small  vic- 
tories. After  once  defeating  the  invadinc^ 
Turks  under  Murat  I  the  Serbs  had  to 
stand  a  second  time  opposed  to  Murat 
and    a    well-trained     force    of    Turkish 


i8 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


soldiers.  Against  the  Turks  were  drawn 
up  tiie  full  strength  of  Serbia,  Albania, 
and  Bosnia. 

There  on  the  field  of  Kossovo,  the 
•'field  of  blackbirds,"  June  15,  1389,  was 
fought  one  of  the  decisive  battles  of 
history.  It  was  a  bitter  defeat  for  Serbia, 
though  as  many  Turks  as  Serbs  perished 
on  the  field.  On  the  eve  of  the  battle 
Murat  I  had  been  assassinated.  The 
brave  Lazar  with  the  flower  of  the 
Serb  nation  lay  dead  —  Lazar  first  made 
prisoner,  then  beheaded.  Of  all  Serbian 
rulers,  the  memory  of  Lazar  was  held  the 
dearest.  "A  pious  and  generous  prince, 
a  brave  but  unsuccessful  general." 

There  was  no  longer  any  question  as 
to  supremacy  in  t'.j  BaLan  Peninsula. 
The  independence  of  Serbia  and  the 
liberties  of  all  the  smaller  states  were 
now  the  property  of  the  unspeakable 
Turk. 

Lazar,  it  is  said,  was  warned  of  his  fate 
by  a  letter  from  Heaven  even  before  the 
battle,  but  he  still  went  forward  to  fight 


1 


?^erbia:    starting  19 

for  his  country.  Bowring's  translation 
of  the  heroic  pesma  (Battle  of  Kossovo) 
gives  an  idea  of  this  event.  Before  the 
battle  Lazar  receives  the  mysterious  letter: 

"Tzar  Lasar!  thou  tzar  of  noble  lineage! 

Tell  me  now,  what  kingdom  hast  thou  chosen? 

Wilt    thou    have    heaven's    kingdom    for    thy 

portion, 
Or  an  earthly  kingdom?    If  an  earthly. 
Saddle  thy  good  steed  —  and  gird  him  tightly; 
Let  thy  heroes  buckle  on  their  sabres. 
Smite  the  Turkish  legions  like  a  tempest. 
And  these  legions  all  will  fly  before  thee. 
But  if  thou  wilt  have  heaven's  kingdom  rather. 
Speedily  erect  upon  Kossova, 
Speedily  erect  a  church  of  marble; 
Not  of  marble,  but  of  silk  and  scarlet; 
That  the  army,  to  its  vespers  going. 
May  from  sin  be  purged  —  for  death  be  ready; 
For  thy  warriors  all  are  doomed  to  stumble; 
Thou,  too,  prince,  wilt  perish  with  thy  army!" 

When  the  Tzar  Lasar  had  read  the  writing. 
Many  were  his  thoughts  and  long  his  musings. 
"Lord,  my  God!  what  — which  shall    be   my 
port!' 

Whic!        ^   choice  of  these  two  profFer'd  king- 
doms? 
Shall  I  choose  heaven's  kingdom?  shall  I  rather 


20 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


Choose  an  earthly  one?    for  what  is  earthly 
Is  as  fleeting,  vain,  anc!  unsubstantial; 
Heavenly  thinf!;s  arc  lasting,  firm,  eternal." 

So  the  Tzar  prcforr'cl  a  heavenly  kingdom 
Rat'ier  than  an  eartlil        On  Kossova 
Straight  he  built  a  church,  but  not  of  marble; 
Not  of  marble,  but  of  silk  and  scarlet. 
Tlien  lie  calls  the  patriarch  of  Scrvia, 
Calls  around  him  all  the  twelve  archbishops, 
Bids  them  make  the  holy  supper  ready, 
Purify  the  warriors  from  their  errors, 
And  for  death's  last  conflict  make  them  ready. 

So  the  warriors  were  prepared  for  battle. 
And  the  Turkish  hosts  approach  Kossova. 
Bogdan  leads  his  valiant  heroes  forward. 
With  his  sons  —  nine  sons  —  the  Jugocichi, 
Sharp  and  keen  —  nine  gray  and  noble  falcons. 
Each  led  on  nine  thousand  Servian  warriors; 
And  the  aged  Jug  led  twenty  thousand. 

With  the  Turks  began  the  bloody  battle. 
Seven  pashas  were  overcome  and  scatter'd. 
But  the  eighth  pasha  came  onward  boldly. 
And  the  aged  Jug  Bogdan  has  fallen. 


Then  Lasar,  the  noble  lord  of  Servia, 
Seeks  Kossova  with  his  mighty  army; 
Seven  and  seventy  thousand  Servian  warriors. 
How  the  infidels  retire  before  him, 


SERBIA:     STARTING  21 

Dare  not  look  upon  his  awful  visage! 

Now  indeed  begins  the  glorious  battle. 

He  had  triumph'd  then,  had  triumph'd  proudly. 

But  that  Vuk  —  the  curse  of  God  be  on  him! 

Me  betrays  his  father  at  Kossova. 

So  the  Turks  the  Servian  monarch  vanquish'd, 
So  Lasar  fell  —  the  Tzar  of  Scrvia  — 
With  Lasar  fell  all  the  Servian  army. 
But  they  have  been  honor'd,  and  are  holy. 
In  the  keeping  of  the  God  of  heaven. 

All  that  the  Nemanyas,  all  that  the 
Serbian  people  had  done  toward  national 
unity  was  destroyed  at  Kossovo. 
Throughout  Serb  lands,  the  anniversary 
of  Kossovo  is  still  kept  as  a  memorial 
day  for  all  Serbian  heroes,  both  for  those 
who  fell  then  and  those  who  have  since 
fallen  in  defense  of  their  country. 

For  seventy  years  after  Kossovo,  Serbia, 
though  nominally  ruled  by  despots,  was 
really  subsidiary  to  the  Sultan.  George 
Brankovitch,  one  of  the  despots,  worked 
for  an  alliance  between  Serbia  and 
Hungary  to  overthrow  the  Turks.  The 
TurV     were  defeated  at  Ku  no  vista,  and 


n 


22 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


lands  previously  taken  were  restored  to 
him.  This  brave  man  died  at  the  age 
of  ninety  of  wounds  received  in  a  duel 
with  a  Hung.arian  nobleman.  But  in 
spite  of  the  efforts  of  Brankovitch,  the 
days  of  Serbia  were  numbered.  In  1459 
she  became  a  Pashilik  under  the  direct 
government  of  the  Porte  —  and  this  was 
her  condition  for  nearly  three  hundred 
and  fifty  years. 

If  in  her  darkest  hour  rDme  strong 
nation  had  sympathized  with  Serbia,  her 
future  might  have  been  different.  The 
nations  of  Europe  were  now  having  a 
revival  of  life  —  a  renaissance  —  but 
they  had  no  thought  of  Serbia,  their 
young  sister.  She  was  hidden  among 
her  mountains  and  she  made  no  outcry. 
She  had  tried  to  do  what  she  could  for 
herself.  She  had  had  her  moments  of 
power  and  happiness.  Now  came  a  long, 
long  night. 

In  the  darker  days  many  Serbs  fled  to 
the  mountains,  sometimes  to  carry  on 
their  occupation  of  farmer  so  far  as  they 


«'. 


tx^*. 


SERBIA:     STARTING 


23 


could,  unmolested  by  the  Turk;  some- 
times to  become  Haiduks  —  the  Robin 
Hoods  of  the  mountains  and  forests  — 
to  steal  from  the  Moslem  when  it  was 
possible,  to  give  to  the  poor  Serb;  al- 
^^ays  to  keep  up  an  unceasing  guerrilla 
warfare. 

Serbians  were  sold  as  slaves  by  the  ten 
thousands  to  Constantinople  and  to 
Egypt.  Whenever  they  could,  they  fled 
their  country  to  Venice,  to  Dalmatia,  to 
Hungary.  Those  who  stayed  in  Serbia 
were  not  meek  and  so  far  as  tV  v  ould 
they  resisted  their  oppressor,  'i  -<  Cn  rch 
was  the  mainstay  of  the  natio  .  *  v  ■  i, 
even  to-day,  the  Serbian  Churc.'-  ..  a 
national  rather  than  a  religious  organi- 
zation. Before  the  end  of  Serb  power 
came,  southern  HunTary  had  begun  to 
receive  many  at.'  la,'  immigrants;  by 
the  middle  of  the  SL\ucnth  century  they 
were  numerous  alona  the  borders  of 
Croatia  and  Slavonia.  Although  to  a 
large  extent  farm  laborers,  they  were 
soldiers  as  well,  and  fought  in  many  bat- 


I- 

I;! 


*^;^'i'.^  jM^^^.'M^mm 


24 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


ties  for  Austria.  In  the  latter  part  of 
the  fifteenth  and  the  early  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  the  Serbs  in  the  Hun- 
garian army  formed  the  famous  "Black 
Legion"  and  won  great  fame.  In  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century 
thirty-seven  thous.  ad  Serbians  went  in 
a  body  to  South  Hungary,  and  fifty  years 
later  one  hundred  thousand,  migrating 
to  Russia,  formed  a  colony  by  themselves. 
In  1690  the  Emperor  Leopold  had 
granted  a  fair  amount  of  hberty,  civil  as 
well  as  rchgious,  to  the  large  organized 
body  of  Serbs  who  had  settled  in  South 
Hungary.  Their  privileges  were  from 
time  to  time  confirmed,  especially  when 
the  Emperor  needed  help  from  the  Serbs 
against  some  one  of  his  numerous  ene- 
mies. At  other  times  the  Serbs  in  Hun- 
gary had  no  flowery  path.  Austria  was 
always  playing  fast  and  loose  with  them, 
and  at  last,  toward  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  though  Austria  was  treat- 
ing them  well,  they  saw  they  had  little 
cause  to  hope  that  she  would  free  them 


SERBIA:     STARTING 


25 


from  the  Turkish  yoke.  The  ancient  ill 
will  of  Hungary  against  Serbia  persisted, 
and  sometimes  laws  passed  in  her  favor 
by  Austria  were  in  the  end  suppressed 
or  nullified  by  Hungarian  efforts. 


k'«9t... 


^^.:^*    .#-i'vr».    ^■■:ii^:^'L*l?5^,,% 


'^ 


II.    SERBIA:    SINGING 

ERBIA,  in  the  hands  of  a  cruel 
conqueror,  stripped  of  most  of  her 
possessions,  bereft  of  happiness,  for- 
gotten by  her  sister  nations,  had  little 
left  but  hope.  Slie  still  clung  to  her  ideals  of 
brotherhood  and  freedom,  and  she  held  close  her 
great  treasure,  a  gift  inherited  from  her  remote 
northern  ancestors  —  her  gift  of  song.  Her 
songs  —  virile,  yet  somewhat  softened  by  con- 
tact with  her  southern  neighbors  —  cheered  and 
strengthened  her.  She  sang  and  sang,  in  a 
minor  key,  and  her  mountains  reechoed  with  the 
deeds  of  her  happier  tiays,  with  the  stories  of  her 
heroes,  now  seeming  more  splendid  because  she 
herself  had  become  so  poor  and  unhappy.  For 
centuries  she  was  like  one  stunned;  she  had 
never  been  aggressive  —  now  she  could  not 
fight  against  the  aggressor  who  had  all  the 
weapons  in  his  own  hands. 

A  younger  sister  —  and  poor  at  that!  —  a 
younger  sister,  who  had  set  out  to  be  perfectly 
independent  —  what  could  she  expect?  She 
must  work  out  her  own  salvation.  Besides,  she 
lived  so  far  away  from  the  centers  of  culture 
she  was  almost  a  barbarian.     Yet  she  was  not 


^SL^LM'jm.. 


.UjimH^Sib. 


Serbia:    singing 


27 


wholly  uncouth.  She  had  been  courteous  to  the 
Crusaders  traversing  Europe  to  crush  their  com- 
mon enemy  —  the  Turk;  and  now  the  Turk  had 
captured  her!  Of  course  it  was  a  pity!  It  was 
a  busy  time  in  Europe  in  the  fourteenth  and 
fifteenth  centuries;  the  nations  had  enou;_^n  to 
do  to  keep  their  own  houses  in  order,  —  and 
when  they  had  leisure  they  must  keep  in  touch 
with  new  iife,  with  the  renaissance  of  Art  and 
Learning.  They  were  enchanted  with  the  dis- 
covery that  they  were  not  mere  parvenus  hke 
distant  Serbia,  but  descendants  of  that  grand 
old  house  that  had  once  conquered  the  world. 
The  beauty  of  Paganism  —  all,  that  was  some- 
thing worth  contemplating!  But  Serbia  —  well, 
the  Crusades  were  over,  and  the  Turk  was  no 
longer  threatening  Western  Europe;  besides, 
Serbia  had  not  even  belonged  to  their  Church  — 
so  what  matter  if  the  Turk  cruslied  her? 

But  Serbia  was  not  crushed.  Had  the  nations 
hstened,  they  could  have  hearc^  her  singing. 
There  was  little  else  she  could  do,  except  wait 
and  hope  —  wait  like  her  Marko  for  the  signal 
to  rise. 


riTT^^ 


UROUGH  five  centuries  of 
subjection  to  the  Turks,  the 
guslars,  singing  the  heroic 
pesmas,  were  hardly  second  in 
influence  to  th(  priests  in  fortifying  the 
spirits  of  the  sufi"ering  Serbs.  The  in- 
tense patriotism  of  the  Serb  was  kept 
alive,  indeed  was  often  kindled,  by  the 
folk  songs  he  had  heard  even  in  his  cra- 
dle. Through  all  his  troubles  he  has 
cherished  the  divine  fire  of  Nationahty, 
even  as  the  Vestals  conserved  the  sacred 
flame. 

The  Serb,  belonging  to  the  most  poeti- 
cal of  nations,  has  the  most  melodious 
of  afl  Slav  tongues  —  identical  with  that 
of  the  Croats  and  ^  et  used  as  the  lan- 
guage of  Hterature  a  comparatively  short 
time.  Even  httle  more  than  a  hundred 
years  ago  people  were  still  arguing 
whether  ancient  Slavonic  or  the  Serbian 
vernacular    should    be    the    language    of 


SERBIA:     SINGING 


29 


literature.  But  for  Dossitie  Obradovitch 
this  result  might  have  been  reached  less 
quickly.  He,  "  the  great  sower,"  a  notable 
educator,  applied  the  language  of  the 
people  to  literature,  pubHshing  an  auto- 
biography, besides  poems  and  treatises, 
in  the  common  tongue.  Before  his  death, 
in  18 II,  the  "Write  as  you  speak"  party 
had  won,  and  hterature  became  the 
property  of  the  masses.  Yet  a  further 
improvement  in  the  language  was  under- 
taken by  Vuk  Karadgitch,  a  self-taught 
cripple,  whose  grammar,  published  in 
1 8 1 4,  was  epochal.  He  it  was  who  devised 
*he  alphabet  of  thirty  letters,  each  one 
representing  a  complete  sound,  and  he 
published  a  dictionary  and  a  collection 
of  the  pcsmas  which  he  took  down  from 
the  mouths  of  the  guslars  who  sang  them. 
Then,  when  various  translations  appeared, 
Europe  remembered  vaguely  that  diplo- 
mats and  travelers  generations  before  had 
brought  back  accounts  of  Serbian  poetry 
heard  ahnost  as  often  in  those  days  'n 
foreign  countries  as  in  Serbia  itself. 


30 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


GoPthc  was  one  of  the  first  to  translate 
them  and  call  attention  to  those  pesmas. 
He  praised  their  humor  and  philosophy, 
their  high  heroism  mingled  with  certain 
spiritual  qualities.  Soon  Sir  John  Bow- 
ring,  a  skilled  linguist,  made  a  translation 
into  English  verse  which  is  nearer  the 
original  in  spirit  and  letter  than  any 
that  has  been  made  since. 

There  have  also  been  many  fine  prose 
translations  of  the  Kossovo  cycle  and 
of  other  pesmas,  and  all  readers  agree 
that  in  them  is,  as  one  critic  says,  "a 
clear  and  inborn  poetry,  such  as  can 
scarcely  be  found  in  any  other  modern 
people." 

"Serbian  song,"  wrote  Schafferik, 
"resembles  the  tone  of  the  violin;  old 
Slavonian,  that  of  the  organ;  Polish,  that 
of  the  guitar.  The  old  Slavonian  in  the 
Psalms  sounds  like  the  loud  rush  of 
the  mountain  stream;  the  Polish  like 
the  sparkling  and  bubbling  of  a  foun- 
tain; and  the  Serbian  like  the  quiet 
murmuring  of  a  streamlet  in  a  valley." 


■OH 


SERBIA:     SINGING 


31 


The  Serb  loves  to  sing;  every  young 
countryman  carries  his  gusle,  and  is 
ready  to  use  it  —  a  one-stringed  violin, 
shaped  something  like  a  mandolin,  played 
on  the  knee  with  a  bow,  like  a  violoncello. 
Men  and  w  omen  —  peasants  and  towns- 
men —  all  sing.  When  two  or  more  sing 
together,  it  is  unison  and  not  part-singing. 
The  national  Serb  music  is  rich  in  melo- 
dies. The  traveler  to-day  hears  the  Serb 
singing  a  ballad  of  the  days  of  Stephen 
Dushan  of  Kossovo,  of  the  Bulgar  War, 
of  Karagcorges  (the  William  Tell  of  the 
mountains).  The  gusle  wails  monoto- 
nously, with  an  occasional  trill  on  one  or 
two  minor  notes.  Some  find  its  music 
plaintive,  others  call  it  tiresome,  and 
travelers  as  long  ago  as  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth  century  have  written  of 
seeing  numbers  of  people  in  a  crowd 
silently  wTcping  as  they  Hstened  to  an 
old  blind  man  chanting  the  national 
songs. 

There  are  two  great  epic  cycles  —  one 
centering  around  Tsar  Lazar,  the  other 


^ 


32 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


6*1  .'  1 

1 


"W 

^ 


around  Marko  —  and  both  have  to  do 
with  the  Battle  of  Kossovo.  Fragments 
of  other  cycles  show  that  Dushan,  Milos 
Obihch,  and  other  heroes  have  been  each 
a  chief  figure  in  them. 

No  matter  how  unlearned,  from  one 
point  of  view,  a  Serb  may  be,  he  can 
always  talk  about  Stephen  Nemanya,  or 
St.  Sava,  or  Alarko,  and  the  other  great 
men  of  his  race.  Moreover,  he  is  con- 
tinually creating  new  songs,  new  folk 
lore.  In  the  great  mills  of  this  country 
he  hghtens  his  work  with  his  simple 
melodies.  Sometimes  the  words  of  his 
song  form  a  clear  narration  of  the  events 
that  brought  him  to  America,  even  of 
happenings  since  his  arrival.  His  own 
sorrows,  his  own  joys,  are  woven  in  his 
epic.  After  their  recent  war  with  Bul- 
garia, everywhere  at  village  festivals, 
the  Serbs  began  to  sing  of  their  victories, 
and  to-day  they  are  undoubtedly  singing 
of  the  sorrows  of  the  past  two  years. 

Mr.  Miatovich  says  that  when  as 
Cabinet  Minister  he  had  been  defeated. 


SERBIA:     SINGING 


33 


forty  years  ago,  the  next  day  he  heard 
the  people  singing  this  event  in  the 
streets. 

Whatever  the  subject  —  whether  it 
deals  with  ancient  times  or  with  the 
present;  whether  it  is  an  epic  or  one  of 
the  so-called  women's  songs  —  the  Ser- 
bian pesma  is  anonymous.  No  single 
writer  or  composer  claims  it.  It  is  the 
work  of  the  people,  all  of  whom  have 
had  a  chance  to  modify  it  as  it  has 
passed  through  the  ages. 

Among  all  the  heroes  of  the  gusic  rs 
the  favorite  has  always  been  Prince 
Marko.  Although  much  of  the  career 
of  the  Marko  of  the  pesmas  was  fabulous, 
this  prince  had  a  real  existence  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century  — 
the  son  of  Vukashin,  who  tried  to  usurp 
the  throne  of  young  Urosh  after  the 
deatii  of  Stephen  Dushan,  and  Queen 
Helen,  unless  one  prefers  to  account  for 
Marko's  glittering  qualities  by  making 
him  the  offspring  of  a  dragon  and  a  fairy 
queen.     The  real  Marko  was  not  a  great 


A. 


34  SERBIA:     A     hIETCH 

man,  as  the  world  counts  greatness. 
He  ruled  a  small  territory  in  Mr.cedonia, 
and  Prilip  was  his  capital.  He  is  said 
to  have  been  friendly  with  the  Turks 
and  to  have  died  fighting  for  the  Sultan. 
This  was  after  Kossovo,  when  Serbia 
was  sleeping.  Yet  he  must  have  had 
qualities  that  made  him  rise  above  this 
in  popular  estimation,  for  his  local  reputa- 
tion grew  with  rime  and  became  national. 
Certainly  for  five  centuries  he  has  been 
a  living  personality,  not  only  in  Serbian 
but  in  Croatian,  Bulgarian,  and  Rou- 
manian tradition. 

It  is  worth  considering  —  this  theory 
that  in  Prince  Marko  the  Serbian  nation 
projects  itself;  that  his  sufTerings  and 
successes  are  the  sufferings  and  successes 
of  the  whole  nation;  that  it  beholds  its 
own  virtues  and  weaknesses  in  his;  its 
own  individuality  in  his  popular  person- 
ality;  its  own  doom  in  his  tragic  fate. 

Athletic,  keen-minded,  quickly  reading 
the  designs  of  his  foes,  he,  as  an  individ- 
ual, was  what  Serbia  would  like  to  have 


m'm,  tjkj.^ 


SERBIA:     SINGING  35 

been  as  a  political  entity.  Even  as  he 
triumphed  over  Magyar,  Venetian  or 
Turk,  so  would  the  Serb  have  tri- 
umphed. When  Serbia  was  sunk  in 
poverty  the  guslar  brought  before  his 
hearers  visions  of  splendid  things  hey 
could  never  hope  to  see,  but  whose 
beauties  satisfied  their  imagination. 

Ma.ko  is  the  knight  without  fear, 
without  reproach  —  the  lover  of  justice, 
the  hater  of  all  oppression.  He  is  kind 
and  dutiful,  the  protector  of  the  poor 
and  abused.  His  pity  extends  even  to 
animals,  who  in  turn  often  helped  him. 
"He  feared  no  one  but  God."  Courteous 
to  all  women,  tender  and  dutiful  to  his 
mother,  Marko  could  be  savage  and 
cruel  beyond  belief  toward  the  Turks. 

Human  weapons  never  harmed  him, 
and  he  wielded  a  war  club  weighing  one 
hundred  pounds,  composed  of  sixty 
pounds  of  steel,  thirty  pounds  of  silver, 
and  ten  pounds  of  gold.  One  touch  of 
this  mace  beheaded  a  foe,  as  one  stroke 
of  his  saber  ripped  him  open. 


A    SKETCH 


36  SERBIA 

Markn's    horso,    Shara/,    his    constant 

companion  and  Ih'I|xt,  was  the  slron<;cst 

and    swiftest    horse     ever    known.     He 

knew  just  when  to  kneel  down  and  save 

his   master   from   the  adversary's   lance. 

He   knew    how    to    rear   and    strike   the 

enemy's  charger  with  his  forefeet.     When 

roused   he  would  spring  uj)  three  lance 

lengths        forward.     Chttering       sparks 

flashed     from    ix'nealh    his     hoof,     blue 

flame    from    his    nostrils.     Ife   lias    been 

known  to  bite  ofl"  the  cars  cl  the  enemy's 

horse;    sometimes   he  trampled  Turkish 

soldiers  to  death.     Marko  fed  him  bread 

and  wine  from   his  own  dishes.     Sharaz 

kept  guard  over  Marko  while  he  slept. 

He  always  shared  the  glory  of  victory. 

Yet,  whether  or  not  Marko  personilies 
Serbia,  in  the  life  of  Marko  the  current 
of  Serbian  medieval  life  is  reflected  as 
in  a  mirror. 

In  these  poems  Turks  arc  always  un- 
reliable and  cruel;  Venetians  are  crafty; 
tlip  faithless  wife  is  usuafly  lured  away 
by  a  Turk.     In  one  vivid  tale,  Marko's 


SERBIA:     S  I  N  (;  I  N  (, 


57 


own  bricio,  as  In-  is  taking  her  home  Irom 
Bulgaria,  is  stolen  by  a  Doge  of  V'  'icr, 
who,  with  three  hundred  attei  ' 
had  been  invited  by  her  father  to  bt  ,>. 
of  her  bridal  procession.  His  designs 
do  not  succeed,  and  when  Marko  com- 
prehends this  treachery  he  does  not 
hesitate.  "He  cleft  the  Doge's  head  in 
twain,"  and  he  struck  another  traitor 
with  his  saix'r  "so  neatly"  that  he  fell 
to  earth  in  two  pieces. 

The  touch  of  exaggeration  in  all  the 
stories  is  not  one  .-nerely  of  incident  but 
of  detail  —  thi  ' '' d  of  exaggeration  a 
child  lovos.  For  c.vainple,  when  Marko 
was  brought  from  the  cell  where  the 
Sultan  had  imprisoned  him  for  three 
years,  his  nails  were  so  long  that  he  could 
plow  with  them.  The  Serbs  of  those 
days,  having  few  splendid  things  in  tiieir 
own  surroundings,  loved  to  endow  Marko 
with  grandeur.  On  his  tent,  for  instance, 
was  fixed  a  golden  apple.  "In  the  apple 
arc  fixed  two  large  diamonds  which  shed  a 
light  so  far  and  wide  that  the  neighboring 


A     SKETCH 


38  SERBIA; 

tents  need  no  candle  at  night."  In  another 
instance  a  magnificent  ring  is  described, 
"so  richly  studded  with  precious  stones 
that  the  whole  room  was  lighted  up." 

The  ransom  demanded  by  Marko  and 
his  friend  Milosh  from  the  Magyar 
General  Voutchka  was  more  than  mag- 
nificent. He  was  to  give  three  tovars 
of  gold  for  each  (a  tovar  was  as  much 
as  a  horse  could  carry  on  his  back),  and, 
among  other  things,  a  gilded  coach 
harnessed  with  twelve  Arabian  coursers 
used  by  General  Voutchka  when  visit- 
ing the  Empress  at  Vienna.  Voutchka's 
wife  not  only  agrees  to  this,  but  adds 
one  thousand  ducats  for  each  of  the 
two.  Even  in  a  poem,  it  delighted  the 
Serbs  to  have  a  Magyar  in  their  power. 

Sometimes  Marko's  adversary  is  a 
Moor  —  for  example,  the  Moor  who 
wishes  to  marry  the  Sultan's  daughter 
and  the  other  Moor  who  demanded  a 
wedding  tax  from  the  maidens  of  Kossovo. 
He  cut  off  the  head  of  this  Moor  with  one 
touch  of  his  mace.    At  another  time  he  is 


^^T^^^^^^!? 


SERBIA:     SINGING 


39 


imprisoned  by  a  Sultan  whose  daughter 
releases  him.  He  has  promised  to  marry 
her.  But  when  they  have  started  on  their 
elopement,  and  she  lifts  her  veil,  he  is 
horrified  to  see  how  black  she  is.  There 
seemed  nothing  for  him  to  do  but  to  run 
away.  Yet  he  knows  that  he  has  com- 
mitted a  sin  in  breaking  his  promise  — 
and  he  confesses  this  sin  to  his  mother: 

"Then  I  sprang  upon  the  back  of  Sharaz, 
And  I  heard  the  maiden's  lips  address  me  — 
'Thou  in  God  my  brother  —  thou  —  oh,  Markol 
Leave  me  not  I  thus  wretched  do  not  leave  me!' 

Therefore,  mother!  wretched  do  I  lowly  penance: 
Thus,  my  mother!  have  I  gold  o'erflowing, 
Therefore  seek  I  righteous  deeds  unceasing." 

In  these  pesmas  one  has  glimpses  not 
only  of  all  the  neighbors  who  warred 
upon  the  Serbians,  but  of  Christian  mal- 
contents going  over  to  the  Church  of 
Rome  or  sowing  dissensions  at  home. 
A  careful  reader  can  get  an  almost 
complete  picture  of  the  Serbian  life  after 
the  Conquest,  painted,  to  be  sure,  in  high 
colors. 


I 


d 


40 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


In  most  of  the  Serbiiin  heroic  pesmas 
there  is  little  of  that  superstitious  cle- 
ment that  marks  the  ordinary  life  of  the 
Serb  to-day,  except  in  the  almost  constant 
presence  of  the  Vila.  Marko's  Vila  never 
loses  an  opportunity  to  help  him,  to 
warn  him,  and  even  to  scold  him. 

The  Serbian  Vila,  so  conspicuous  in 
Serbian  song  and  story,  may  be  roughly 
defined  as  a  guardian  angel.  She  is  a 
vaguely  beautiful  maiden  born  of  the 
dew  and  nurtured  in  a  mysterious  moun- 
tain and  seems  to  combine  qualities  of 
both  classic  and  northern  mythologies. 
She  has  quahties  which  are  even  essen- 
tially Christian,  Tor  sometimes  she  ex- 
presses her  bcHef  in  God  and  St.  John, 
and  ahvays  she  has  a  deadly  hatred  for 
the  Turk.  No  higher  compliment  can 
be  paid  a  lady  than  to  say,  "as  fair  as 
the  mountain  Vila,"  and  a  steed  "swift 
as  a  Vila"  means  one  of  great  value. 
Occasionally  Marko  reproves  his  Vila 
Rayviola  and  once  when  she  has  shot 
an  arrow  through  the  throat  and  another 


SERBIA:     SINGING  4I 

through  the  head  of  his  friend  Milosh,  he 
pursues  her  among  the  clouds  on  his  horse 
Sharaz  and  brings  her  to  earth  with  his 
chib,  ungallantly  adding:  "Thou  hadst 
better  give  him  healing  herbs  lest  thou 
shalt  not  carry  longer  thy  head  upon  thy 
shoulders."  But  generally  Marko's  atti- 
tude is  more  affectionate:  "Where  art 
thou  now,  my  sister-in-God,  thou  Vila?" 
There  are  in  existence  about  thirty- 
eight  poems  and  tw^ice  as  many  prose 
legends  detailing  the  thrilling  exploits 
of  Marko.  In  spite  of  certain  accounts 
of  his  death,  it  is  generally  thought  that 
he  never  died,  but  withdrew  to  a  cave 
near  the  castle  of  Prilip  and  is  still 
asleep  there.  At  times  he  awakes  and 
looks  to  see  if  a  sword  has  come  out  of  a 
rock  where  he  thrust  it  to  the  hilt. 
When  it  is  out  of  the  rock,  he  will  know 
that  the  time  has  come  for  him  to  appear 
among  the  Serbians  once  more  to  re- 
establish the  Empire  destroyed  at  Kos- 
sovo.  Even  now,  on  occasions,  he  may 
appear  to  help  his  disheartened  country- 


m 


•^f 


TtvS^^ 


42 


SERBIA: A     SKETCH 


men.  An  interesting  story  of  the  War 
of  191 2-1 3  is  told  that  bears  directly  on 
this  belief.  The  Serbian  forces  were 
storming  the  fort  at  Prilip  when  their 
general  ordered  a  delay.  In  spite  of 
this,  they  pushed  on  and  ran  straight  to 
the  castle  of  the  royal  prince,  Marko. 
The  general  trembled,  believing  that 
without  the  help  of  his  artillery,  for 
which  he  was  waiting,  these  men  of  the 
infantry  would  be  wholly  destroyed. 
But  even  while  dreading  this,  he  saw  the 
Serbian  national  colors  flying  from  the 
donjon  of  Marko's  castle.  His  Serbs 
had  driven  the  Turks  away  and  were 
victorious,  as  it  proved,  with  little  loss 
of  life.  When  he  reproved  them  for 
risking  so  much:  "But  we  were  ordered 
by  Prince  Marko,  did  you  not  see  him 
on  his  Sharaz?  Prince  Marko  com- 
manded us  afl  the  time — 'Forward! 
forward!'"  They  really  believed  that 
they  had  seen  their  hero. 

Two  passages  from  the  heroic  pesmas 
may  serve  to  show  Marko  under  different 


SERBIA:     SINGING 


43 


aspects.  In  the  first  he  has  been  invited 
by  the  Grand  Vizier  to  go  hunting,  in 
company  with  twelve  Turks.  He  has 
obeyed  the  Vizier's  command  and  has 
loosed  his  falcon. 

Then  the  princely  Marko  loosed  his  falcon; 
To  the  clouds  of  heaven  aloft  he  mounted; 
Then  he  sprung  uf>on  the  f^old-wing'd  swimmer — 
Seized  him  —  rose,  and  down  they  fell  together. 
When  the  bird  of  Amurath  sees  the  struggle, 
He  becomes  indignant  with  vexation: 
'Twas  of  old  his  custom  to  play  falsely  — 
For  himself  alone  to  gripe  his  booty: 
So  he  pounces  down  on  Marko's  falcon. 
To  deprive  him  of  his  well-earn'd  trophy. 
But  the  bird  was  valiant  as  his  master; 
Marko's  falcon  has  the  mind  of  Marko: 
And  his  gold-wing'd  prey  he  wil.  not  yield  him. 
Sharply  turns  he  round  on  Amurath's  falcon. 
And  he  tears  away  his  proudest  feathers. 


Soon  as  the  Visir  observes  the  contest, 
He  is  fill'd  with  sorrow  and  with  anger; 
Rushes  on  the  falcon  of  Prince  Marko, 
Flinps  him  fiercely  'gainst  a  verdant  fir-tree. 
And  he  breaks  the  falcon's  dexter  pinion. 
Marko's  noble  falcon  groans  in  suffering. 
As  the  serpent  hisses  from  the  cavern. 
Marko  flies  to  help  his  favourite  falcon. 


44 


Serbia:    a   sketch 


Binds  with  tenderness  the  wounded  pinion, 
And  with  stifled  rage  the  bird  addresses: 
"Woe  for  thee,  and  woe  for  me,  my  falcon! 
I  ha\  e  left  my  Servians  —  I  have  hunted 
With  the  Turks  —  and  all  these  wrongs  have 
sufi'er'd." 

But  Marko  did  not  content  himself 
with  words  and  the  Grand  Vizier  had 
hardly  time  to  warn  his  companions 
when  Marko  cleft  his  head  asunder  and 
proceeded  to  cut  each  of  his  twelve 
companions  in  two.  After  deliberation 
he  went  to  the  Sultan  and  told  what  he 
had  done.  The  Sultan  laughed,  for  he 
was  afraid  of  the  light  in  Marko's  eyes 
and  chose  to  dissemble:  "If  thou  hadst 
not  behaved  thus  I  would  no  longer  have 
called  thee  my  son.  Any  Turk  may 
become  Grand  Vizier,  but  there  is  no 
hero  to  equal  Marko,"  and  he  dismissed 
Marko  with  presents. 

In  the  second,  "The  Death  of  Marko," 
he  has  been  warned  by  the  Vila  that  his 
death  is  near,  and  he  obeys  her  commands. 


SERBIA:     SINGING 


45 


4 


Marko  did  as  counsell'd  by  the  Vila. 
When  he  came  upon  the  mountain  summit, 
To  the  right  and  left  he  look'd  around  him; 
Then  he  saw  two  tall  and  slender  fir-trees; 
Fir-trees  towering  high  above  the  forest, 
Covered  all  with  verdant  leaves  and  branches. 
Then  he  rein'd  his  faithful  Sharaz  backwards. 
Then  dismounted  —  tied  him  to  the  fir-tree; 
Bent  him  down,  and  looked  into  the  fountain, 
Saw  his  face  upon  the  water  mirror'd, 
Saw  his  death-day  written  on  the  water. 

Tears  rush'd  down  the  visage  of  the  hero: 
"O  thou  faithless  world!  —  thou  lovely  flow'ret! 
Thou  wert  lovely  —  a  short  pilgrim's  journey  — 
Short  —  though    I    have   seen   three   centuries 

over  — 
And  'tis  time  that  I  should  end  my  journey! 

Then  he  drew  his  sharp  and  shining  sabre, 
Drew  it  forth  —  and  loosed  the  sabre-girdle; 
And  he  hasten'd  to  his  faithful  Sharaz: 
With  one  stroke  he  cleft  his  head  asunder, 
That  he  never  should  by  Turk  be  mounted, 
Never  be  disgraced  in  Turkisii  service. 
Water  draw,  or  drag  a  Moslem's  Jugum. 
Soon  as  he  had  cleaved  his  head  asunder, 
Graced  a  grave  he  for  his  faithful  Sharaz, 
Nobler  grave  thf  n  that  which  held  his  brother. 
Then  he  broke  in  four  his  trusty  sabre, 
That  it  might  not  be  a  Moslem's  portion. 
That  it  might  not  be  a  Moslem's  triumph, 


it: 


ii 


46 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


That  it  might  not  be  a  wreck  of  Marko, 
Which  the  curse  of  Christendom  should  follow. 
Soon  as  he  in  four  had  broke  his  sabre, 
Next  he  broke  his  trusty  lance  in  seven; 
Threw  the  fragments  to  the  fir-trees'  branches. 
Then  he  took  his  club,  so  terror-striking, 
In  his  strong  right  hand,  and  swiftly  flung  it, 
Flung  it  from  the  mountain  of  Urvina, 
Far  into  the  azure,  gloomy  ocean. 
To  his  club  thus  spake  the  hero  Marko: 
"When  my  club  returneth  from  the  ocean, 
Shall  a  hero  come  to  equal  Marko." 

When  he  thus  had  scatter'd  all  his  weapons. 
From  his  breast  he  drew  a  golden  tablet; 
From  his  pocket  drew  unwritten  paper. 
And  the  princely  Marko  thus  inscribed  it: 
"He  who  visits  the  Urvina  mountain, 
He  who  seeks  the  fountai.   'neath  the  fir-trees. 
And  there  finds  the  hero  Marko's  body. 
Let  him  know  that  Marko  is  departed. 
When  he  died,  he  had  three  well-fill'd  purses: 


How  well  fill'd?    Well  fill'd  with  golden  ducats. 
One  shall  be  his  portion,  and  my  blessing. 
Who  shall  dig  a  grave  for  Marko's  body: 
Let  the  second  be  the  church's  portion; 
Let  the  third  be  given  to  blind  and  maim'd  ones. 
That  the  blind  through  earth   in  peace  may 

wander. 
And  with  hymns  laud  Marko's  deeds  of  glory." 


4^ 


! 


SERBIA:     SINGING 


47 


And  when  Marko  had  inscribed  the  letter, 
Lo!  he  stuck  it  on  the  fir-tree's  branches, 
That  it  might  be  seen  by  passing  travellers. 
In  the  front  he  threw  his  golden  tablets, 
DofF'd  his  vest  of  green,  and  spread  it  calmly 
On  the  grass,  beneath  a  sheltering  fir-tree; 
Cross'd  him,  and  lay  down  upon  his  garment; 
O'er  his  eyes  he  drew  his  samur-kalpak, 
Laid  him  down,  —  yes!  laid  him  down  for  ever. 

By  the  fountain  lay  the  clay-cold  Marko 

Day  and  night;  a  long,  long  week  he  lay  there. 

Many  travellers  pass'd,  and  saw  the  hero,  — 

Saw  him  lying  by  the  public  path-way; 

And  while  passing  said,  "The  hero  slumbers!" 

Then  they  kept  a  more  than  common  distance, 

Fearing  that  they  might  disturb  the  hero. 


•  ■■}'■: 


i 


f 


il 


III.   SERBIA:  SEAWARD 

HE  Nations  of  Eurof>e  that  had  over- 
looked Serbia  in  her  days  of  strength 
—  she  was  so  young,  and  so  far  away, 
half  hidden  in  her  wilderness  of  moun- 
tains—  the  Nations  of  Europe  that  had  turned 
deaf  ears  to  her  cries  when  the  Turk  attacked 
her,  began  to  make  inquiries  about  the  little 
sister.  She  had  been  asleep  so  long  that  some 
of  them  really  imagined  her  dead.  But  they 
heard  some  plaintive  music:  they  recognized 
her  voice  as  she  sang.  They  saw  that  she  was 
not  only  alive,  but  awake,  thoroughly  wide  awake, 
and  that  she  was  asking  for  help.  But  they 
had  troubles  enough  of  their  own  —  revolutions 
and  things  of  that  kind.  1  he  people  were  alto- 
gether too  troublesome  —  so  at  least  the  rulers 
said  —  and  the  p>eople,  who  ought  to  have  heeded 
poor  Serbia's  cries,  did  not  take  time  to  find 
out  just  who  she  was,  and  what  she  desired. 
All  might  have  been  different  had  they  known 
that  Serbia  was  one  of  themselves,  acknowledg- 
ing no  privileged  classes  and  desiring  little  but 
a  chance  to  get  on  her  feet  and  walk  alone.  For 
this  she  needed  space  to  expand  in,  space  in  which 
to  exhale  the  spirit  of  freedom  that  filled  her. 


■A 


SERBIA:     SEAWARD 


49 


The  Turk,  her  master,  was  growing  weaker. 
She  could  almost  strike  off  her  own  shackles 
when  suddenly  a  deliverer  came  —  one  of  her 
own  people,  a  son  of  her  mountains. 

When   her   master  was  driven   away,   Serbia 
bt't^an  to  look  abtut  her,  a  little  humbly  at  first, 
for  she  was  trying  to  understand  herself.    She  saw 
that  she  needed  education  before  she  could  take 
her  proper  place  in  the  world.     So  she  set  herself 
bravely  to  learn  from  books.     She  noticed  that 
the  stronger   Nations  were  governed   by   rules, 
and  she  gave  herself  a  Constitution  patterned  on 
theirs.     Regular  work  was  hard  for  her,  but  she 
worked  diligently  and  saved  a  little,  though  dis- 
inclined to  hoard.    She  had  rich  treasures  hidden 
away  but  she  had  never  thought  about  tiiem, 
even  as  playthings.    What  does  a  child  care  for 
diamonds?     But  when  it  was  made  clear  to  her 
that  wealth  is  jwwcr,  she  worked  more  heartily. 

The  other  Nations  began  to  admit  that  Serbia 
was  no  longer  Nobody.  Indeed  she  was  so 
near  being  Somebody  that  many  thought  it 
would  be  wise  to  win  her  friendship,  and  wiser 
to  put  her  under  obligations.  So  when  she  asked 
for  an  Hereditary  Prince,  presto!  the  thing  was 
accomplished!  though  once  she  had  hardly 
dared  ask  more  than  the  privilege  of  naming 
her  own  chief. 

In  outward  aspect  Serbia  began  to  be  more 
like  other  people,  although  some  of  her  neighbors 
remembered  too  well  her  hoydenish  days  and  her 


50 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


years  of  poverty.  Still,  they  could  flatter  her 
sometimes,  for  she  held  the  key  to  certain  things 
that  several  of  them  needed  —  trade  routes, 
fertile  lands,  and  other  things  that  no  ambitious 
Nation  should  li\c  without.  Soon  some  of  her 
neighbors  desired  to  control  the  sale  of  things 
tl.at  modest!  enough  she  had  begun  to  ofi'er  to 
the  world.  She  had  heard  that  money  was  power, 
and  she  hoped  to  send  htr  good^  to  market  in 
the  best  way.  She  noticed  that  every  one  who 
made  a  success  o  hi  mhcss  had  a  place  by  the  sea. 
In  liic  whole  fan:  K  of  Nations  she  was  the  only 
oni  who  had  not  a  place  by  he  sea,  except  the 
littl-r-t  one  perched  up  in  tlie  high  mount.i  ns. 
But  this  little  one  makes  a  success  by  tradir  in 
beauty.  Ye*  beauty  is  an  'ntangible  thing  to 
carry  to  any  market  and  ib  best  disposet'  of  in 
the  mountains  themselves. 

Whe:     Serbi;    first   expresst      her  longing  for 
the    sea     eve,,     one     frownt  "Impossil  le!" 

The.  0  were  otlKi  things  that  ought  to  please  her 
as  well-  opportu!  es  to  help  them  a  tlieir 
wars,    litt.e   snips  territory    here   and    there 

if  she  help  (1  ther  ;ain  anything.  But  a  sea- 
P'.rt—  if'  ulou-'  Why,  the  Imperial  cousin 
Oh  one  ide  of  (icr  ^  )uld  be  Insulted!  What 
better  ^uJd  little  Serbia  wish  than  to  market 
hei  Ml"  vis  to  him,  or  at  least  send  them  over 
rou'   s  ac  had  picked  out? 

Th'-n    Serbia    said    less  and    thought    more. 
She  sang  iess,  but  she  composed  more  songs,  and 


SERBIA:     SEAWARD 


51 


she  listened  n>  the  people  talking,  not  singing. 
She  found  sin-  could  not  live  by  poetry  alotic. 
The  Young  Scrl)^  and  the  Piuiblavs  told  her  their 
plans  and  she  looked  hopefully  at  her  big  fur- 
clad  Cousin.  But  though  with  him  it  wasn't 
a  question  of  trade,  fie  had  ambitions  of  his  own. 
He  wasn't  sure  but  that  Serbia  with  a  seat  by 
the  sea  might  watch  him  too  closely.  Th<  1 
all  the  others  in  the  great  family  of  Nations 
took  sides  with  one  or  the  other. 

Serbia  was  restless,  l)ut  she  knew  she  could 
wait.     Her  household  was  now  much  more  closel 
united  than  in  the  days  of  her  youth,  and  she  had 
realized  what  had  once  seemed  a  vain  dream  — 
comparative  independence.     So  she  could  wait' 


l^;i 


HO  would  look  at  pictures  of 
massacres   extending   through- 
out Serbia!  at  plundered  vil- 
lages! at  tortured  women  and 
fatherless   children   shrieking   in   agony! 
All  the  horrors  inflicted  by  the  Turks  on 
the  Serbs  in  the  early  nineteenth  century 
were  the  convulsive  movements  of  one 
near   his   end.     The   Turk    himself  was 
growing    weaker   and    weaker,    and    his 
weakness  was  Serbia's  opportunity.     But 
where  was  the  man  to  lead  her  out  of 
bondage?    There   was    now    no   heir   to 
her  throne,  the  throne  of  what  had  once 
been    a   proud    kingdom.     Assassination 
and  exile  had  led  also  to  the  passing  of 
the  old   nobility.     Although   the   family 
of  the  ancient  kings  was  no  more,  the 
old  racial  stock  had  little  changed.     The 
Serbs  were  still  of  the  same  indomitable 
race,  still  breathing  the  spirit  of  freedom, 
still    bound    to   one   another   in   a   true 
brotherhood.     Yet,    loyal    though    they 


\hm 


SERBIA:     SEAWARD 


53 


were,  ready  to  die  for  Serbia,  where  could 
they  look  for  a  leader? 

In  the  early  part  of  1804,  Mustapha 
Pasha,  the  Turkish  Governor  of  Belgrade, 
was  much  too  kind  and  benign  a  man  to 
suit  the  Janissaries  and  the  Dahias,  their 
leaders.     They  had  dealt  slaughter  right 
and  left,  and  at  last  had  killed  Mustapha 
himself  because   he   had   opposed   their 
cruelty.     While   they  were    planning    a 
general   massacre  of  the  most  eminent 
Serbs    in    the    country,    all    Serbs    who 
could  were    fleeing    to    the    mountains. 
The    rumored    massacre    was    the    last 
straw,  and  a  silent  cry  arose,  "Oh,  for 
the  right  man!"    Then  came  the  whisper 
that   a  leader  had  been  found  —  Kara- 
georges.     Black     George,    a    prosperous 
raiser  of  swine,  at  this  time  about  forty 
years  old.    He  had  served  in  the  Aus- 
trian armies  nearly  twenty  years  before 
under  Joseph  I,  that  Emperor  who,  of  all 
the  Austrian  monarchs,  is  said  to  have 
meant  the  most  and  to  have  done  the 
least. 


i  i-S: 


ii; 


u? 


mmmmm 


mrmmt 


54 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


Karageorges,  Black  George,  so  called 
either  on  account  of  his  dark  complexion 
or  his  moody  disposition,  a  brave  man 
and   a   man   of  character,    had   fled   to 
the  Sumadia  for  safety.     He  had  great 
influence  among  the  large  body  of  refugees 
in  that  beautiful  forest  region  of  secure 
mountain   fastnesses.     Karageorges   was 
a  blunt,  plain  man,  and  honest.     He  had 
a  strong  sense  of  justice,  though  notably 
hot  tempered.    At  the  meeting,  when  he 
was  chosen  leader,  there  were  about  five 
hundred  Serbs,  men  afl  under  arms.     In 
responding  to  their  request  that  he  would 
lead  them  against  the  Turks,   he  said: 
"Again,   brothers,    I   cannot  accept,   for 
if  I  accepted  I  certainly  would  do  much 
not  to  your  liking.     If  one  of  you  were 
taken  in  the  smaflest  treachery,  the  least 
faltering,    I    would   punish    him    in    the 
most    fearful    manner."     "We    want    it 
so,  we  want  it  sol"  they  cried.     When 
he  saw  that  they  were  in  earnest,  Kara- 
georges accepted  the  office  they  conferred 
on  him  and  the  Archpriest  of  Bonvokik 


SERBIA:     SEAV'..  RD 


55 


received  and  consecrated  hi.^  aln.  Upon 
this  Karageorges  took  supreme  contr  >! 
of  the  insurrection. 

At  this  same  meeting,  in  the  Iit^lc 
village  of  Oorshats,  they  organized  a 
National  Assembly.  At  first  the  Serbs 
with  tactics  worthy  an  Oriental  man- 
aged to  keep  the  Sultan's  attention 
from  their  insurrection  by  protesting 
that  they  were  'n  arms  not  against  the 
Sultan  himself  but  against  the  Dahias, 
who,  by  disobeying  him,  were  the  real 
rebels.  Deceived,  or  wilHng  to  seem 
deceived,  the  Porte  let  them  work  out 
their  own  plans.  But  the  battle  of 
Ivaukovitz  awoke  The  Subhme  Porte. 
Turks  defeated  by  Serbs!  The  world 
had  never  heard  of  such  a  thing!  In 
vain  Napoleon  advised  The  Porte  to 
take  no  notice  of  the  Serb  insurrection. 
It  was  merely  part  of  a  Russian  plot! 
Soon  the  army  of  Karageorges  vas  before 
Shabaz,  where  the  Turks  were  intrenched. 
The  Turkish  commander  shouted  from 
the    heights,  ordering  Karageorges    and 


{N'- 


$6        Serbia:   a   sketch 

his  men  to  give  up  their  weapons.    "  Come 
and  get  them!"  cried  Karageorges.     In 
a  short  time  the  Serb  leader  and   his 
army  were  in  Shabaz,  from  which  the 
enemy  had  fled  in  great  disorder.    Aus- 
tria was  now  too  intent  upon  her  own 
war  with   Napoleon   to   give   the   Serbs 
the  help  they  sought.     She  merely  ad- 
vised them    to    make   peace  with    The 
Porte.     In   accordance   with    her   usual 
policy,   she  wished   to  cramp  the   little 
State  within  small  limits,  subject  to  her 
interests.      Russia,    though    more    sym- 
pathetic, had  little  thought  to  spare  for 
Serbia.     At  this  moment  she  herself  was 
trying  to  make  an  alliance  with  Turkey 
against   Napoleon,   but   she   did   advise 
Serbia  not  to  accept  the  recent  ofi'er  of 
The  Porte  to  give  her  srif-government 
itnd  to  recognize  Karagec    ^es. 

Pathetic  enough  was  the  vacillation  of 
Serbia  between  Austria  and  Russia.  Had 
Austria  been  more  responsive,  Kara- 
georges would  have  preferred  closer  rela- 
tions with  her.     But  while  Austria  was 


ill 


SERBIA:     SEAWARD 


51 


indifferent  to  Serbia's  advances  the  Tsar, 
showing  more  interest  in  Serbia's  affairs, 
agreed  to  send  his  agent  to  h.r.  He 
promised  help  also  if  the  Serbians  would 
agree  to  all  things  initiated  by  the  Rus- 
sian government.  Austria  was  disturbed. 
Serbia  was  too  bold ;  she  must  be  watched ! 
Like  most  really  great  men  Kara- 
georges,  even  when  first  acclaimed  his 
country's  deliverer,  had  enemies.  The 
old  question  of  centralization  and  de- 
centralization had  come  up.  Many 
thought  him  too  autocratic.  The  enemies 
of  Serbia  encouraged  decentralization. 
Divided,  she  would  be  easier  to  subdue. 
Russia  disapproved  of  many  things  done 
by  Karageorges.  But  he  had  the  strong 
support  of  the  Sumadia  in  whatever  he 
did.  When  the  Turks  again  tried  to 
invade  Serbia,  Russian  and  Serbian 
troops,  fighting  side  by  side,  drove  them 
away.  But  for  the  party  troubles,  but 
for  the  loudly  expressed  ill  will  of  leaders 
of  the  opposition,  Karageorges  might 
have  been  happy. 


i! 


4 

l! 


ll 


58  SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 

Though  Serbs  fought  side  by  side 
with  Russians  until  181 2,  it  happened 
that  no  important  battles  took  place  on 
Serbian  territory.  During  these  years 
Serbia  not  only  had  self-government,  but 
she  somewhat  increased  her  boundaries 
by  lands  taken  from  neighboring  Pashi- 
liks.  Yet  she  had  her  disappointments. 
Turkey,  when  Russia's  war  with  Na- 
poleon began,  disregarded  the  few  con- 
cessions made  to  Serbia  by  the  Peace  of 
Bucharest.  At  last,  the  Grand  Vizier 
led  his  army  against  Serbia,  and  although 
her  men  fought  bravely,  they  had  to  draw 
back  from  the  frontier.  Then  a  strange 
thing  happened!  With  no  obvious  rea- 
son, Karageorges  went  back  to  Belgrade 
with  the  army  reserves.  Without  stay- 
ing there  even  for  a  day,  he  and  part  of 
his  officers  practically  deserted  the  army. 
Crossing  the  Danube  into  Austria,  they 
forsook  their  country  in  her  day  of  trial. 
With  them  went  the  Russian  consul  and 
the  Metropolitan  and  many  leading  Ser- 
bians with  their  families. 


mmm 


!li! 


SERBIA:     SEAWARD 


59 


The  downfall  of  Karageorges  was  due 
to  no  fault  of  his.  No  one  ever  doubted 
his  courage,  and  could  he  have  had  his 
own  way,  when  he  saw  the  impossibility 
of  pushing  back  the  enemy,  he  would 
have  gone  again  to  his  stronghold  in  the 
Sumadia,  there  to  fight  to  the  last.  But 
there  was  a  frontier  to  be  defended,  and 
Serbs  ownin^^  property  along  the  rivers 
begged  for  protection.  The  army  was 
not  large  enough  to  accomplish  all  that 
was  demanded  of  it.  The  Turks  were 
victorious  and  with  their  victory  there 
began  again  a  series  of  acts  of  unspeak- 
able cruelty. 

Among  the  Serbs  who  remained  in 
Serbia  when  Karageorges  and  his  friends 
crossed  over  into  Austria  was  Milosh 
Obrenovitch.  He  had  not  only  served 
with  Karageorges  in  the  Austrian  armies, 
but  he  had  worked  for  him  as  a  keeper 
of  swine  on  his  Sumadia  estate.  During 
the  recent  revolution  he  had  helped  his 
great  leader  by  watching  the  Balkan  passes 
for  unfriendly  Bosnians  and  Albanians. 


!    SI 


6o 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


When  Milosh  saw  that  the  Turks 
were,  for  the  time  at  least,  masters,  he 
offered  to  help  them  reconquer  the  Serbs. 
In  reality,  faithful  to  his  own  people,  he 
was  only  waiting  a  chance  to  aid  them. 
The  time  came  and  one  memorable 
Palm  Sunday,  1817,  he  appeared  near 
the  church  at  Tokova  and  the  people 
called  upon  him  to  lead  them  against 
the  Turks.  He  told  them  that  this 
would  be  a  difficult  undertaking.  "We 
know  that,  but  we  are  ready  for  any- 
thing. Dost  thou  not  see  that  we  perish 
as  it  is?"  "Here  am  I,"  he  replied. 
"There  stand  you!"  "War  to  the 
Turks!  With  us  is  God  and  the  right." 
Then  arms  were  brought  out  from  under- 
ground hiding  places.  His  men  were 
ready  and  Milosh  led  them  on  to  victory 
over  the  Turks.  When  later  the  Turks 
came  to  treat  with  him,  they  made  him 
tribute  collector.  Many  of  the  Serb 
chiefs  were  therefore  displeased  and 
wished  to  fight  openly.  They  suspected 
Milosh  of  double-dealing.     Among  these 


i. 


SERBIA:     SEAWARD 


6l 


was  Karagcorges  who  had  landed  unex- 
pectedly in  Serbia.  Karagcorges  and 
Milosh  were  no  longer  friends.  One 
explanation  of  this  was  that  Milosh 
suspected  Karagcorges  of  poisoning  his 
brother  Milan,  who  had  died  suddenly, 
but  no  one  who  really  knew  Karagcorges 
could  suspect  him  of  using  poison  to 
rid  himself  of  an  enemy. 

But  the  world  does  believe  that  Milosh 
betrayed  Karagcorges  to  the  Turks.  Cer- 
tainly the  latter  was  murdered  by  the 
Turkish  Governor's  men  —  beheaded  in 
the  lonely  house  where  he  was  sleeping. 
This  was  a  pathetic  end  for  a  great  life 
that  had  held  as  many  melodramatic  as 
tragic  events.  Karagcorges  was  a  true 
patriot.  He  was  neither  cruel  nor  blood- 
thirsty, though  circumstances  often  com- 
pelled severity.  A  glance  at  his  portrait 
shows  his  nobility  of  character.  That 
he  was  a  lover  of  law  and  justice  was 
evident  by  his  promptly  establishing  a 
system  of  law-courts  for  Serbia.  He 
reduced  taxation,  and  though  he  could 


^P^Pq^i^PP^aanSMVI 


H»W 


62 


Serbia:   a   sketch 


neither  read  nor  write  —  or  because  of 
this  —  he  zealously  supported  education. 
He  hoped  that  the  time  would  come  when 
Serbia  need  no  longer  send  outside  to 
get  the  trained  men  whose  help  she 
needed.  He  established  many  good  pub- 
lic schools,  among  them  the  High  School 
at  Belgrade,  which  later  grew  into  the 
University. 

Among  his  tragic  moments  was  that 
one  when  he  had  to  shoot  his  father  in 
order  to  prevent  his  torture  by  the  Turks, 
and  that  other  when  he  refused  to  save 
his  brother  from  execution  when  he 
found  he  deserved  the  death  penalty. 
More  melodramatic  than  tragic  was  a 
critical  moment  in  the  National  Assembly 
when  members  sat  with  pistols  held  at 
their  heads  that  they  might  not  act 
foolishly. 

Though  not  a  crowned  King,  \  name, 
Karageorges  had  all  the  power  ot  a  mon- 
arch. Yet  with  so  much  at  his  command 
he  retained  his  taste  for  the  simplest 
life.     His  dress  was  that  of  the  peasant 


SERBIA:     SEAWARD  63 

and,  even  when  Chief  Executive  of 
Serbia,  he  often  cooked  his  own  meals  in 
the  kitchen  of  his  dwelling. 

After  the  death  of  Karageorges  the 
efforts  of  Serbia  to  have  Turkey  recog- 
nize her  dragged  on.  At  last,  in  1820, 
the  Sultan  by  a  special  berat  made 
Serbia  a  hereditary  princedom.  This 
was  a  long  step  in  the  right  direction. 

Milosh,  feeling  secure  in  his  seat,  did 
well  by  his  country,  and  better  by  him- 
self. Years  after  his  death,  Serbs  in  gos- 
siping groups  would  recount  the  divers 
ways  in  which  Milosh  had  filled  his 
coffers.  His  keenness  for  the  main 
chance,  and  his  general  canniness,  all 
his  subjects  admired  hugely.  But  the 
burly  neighbor  looking  on  was  less 
pleased.  Why  did  a  little  struggling 
State  trouble  herself  so  about  education, 
and  economical  housekeeping?  Why 
should  she  try  to  attain  the  impossible? 
Then,  to  show  poor  Serbia  how  impos- 
sible her  ambitions  were,  Russia  frowned 
and  agreed  with  those  who  thought  the 


i 


1 1 

r  t 


64  SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 

hcrcc'tary  Pr  nee  too  autocratic.  In 
eastern  Europe  there  was  room  for  only 
one  Autocrat.  "Moreover,"  muttered 
Russia,  "why  shoul  1  an  Autocrat  give 
a  Constiti.tion  to  Serbia?"  A  threat 
was  mingled  with  the  muttering-  ana 
Milosh  Withdrew  the  Con-^titution. 

Yet  Russia  used  her  influence  so 
strongly  with  Turkey  that  Great  Brit- 
lin  bt  gan  10  take  an  interest  a  Serbia. 
Hie  youiig  State  was  growing  too  fast, 
there  was  no  telling  where  she  might 
wander.  She  needed  a  guardian  —  some 
one  to  watch  her,  to  note  where  she  was 
going  and  tell  her  she  must  not.  So 
Great  Britain  sent  Co!o».  ■  H.  dges  to 
Serbia  as  her  General  Coiisul,  and  he 
whispered  —  for  Russia  must  not  hear 
him  —  that  in  case  Serbia  had  trouble 
with  Russia,  Great  Britain  and  France 
would  stand  by  her.  Next,  the  Porte, 
never  before  known  as  a  constitution 
maker,  invited  Milosh  to  send  deputies 
to  Constantinople  to  plan  a  new  Con- 
stitution for  Serbia.     But  Milosh  found 


i  i 


S  F  R  B      A       S  E    V  W       R  f  65 

this  new  Con?   ituti  ti  no  ix^ttcr  than  the 
one    Russia    ha*     mack    him    withdraw. 
Alas    for    Milosh.    al  i-i    for   Serbia!      Al- 
thou2;h    the    nc\\    Con  titution    was    to 
haw  the  guarantee  (»f  the  Great  Powc 
the   r.)nstitution    itself   wuilcJ    no.    hoid 
vvat<  i.     A  few  months  lat-r,  the  ai  ihor- 
ity  of  *he  I'rincc  of  S<  rbia  -\as  modttied 
It  Wis  ordered   that    he  should   ha   c  a 
Council    of    sevcii.y    .Ife    members.     He 
had  desired  Councillors   whom  he  could 
appoint  and  dismiss  at  will,  but  Turkey, 
forgetting  a  promise  to  Great   Britain, 
had  yielded  to  Russia.     As  the  Consti- 
tution  required   Milosh  to   appoint   the 
most  distinguished  men  in  his  realm  as 
Councillors,  and  as  at  this  time  Serbia's 
men  of  influence  were  chiefly  his  enemies, 
he  was  disturbed.     Although  the  British 
Ambassador  counseled  patience,  Milosh 
plotted  to  do  away  with  this  Constitu- 
tion by  a  military  vote.     When  his  plans 
fell  through,  he  abdicated,  in  June,  1839, 
and   retired   to  his   home  in   Wallachia. 
Before  abdicating,  however,  Milosh  had 


m 


66 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


to  sign  the  Constitution  imposed  upon 
him  at  the  instigation  of  Russia,  and  this 
limiting  of  the  power  of  the  hereditary 
Prince  was  a  good  thing  for  Serbia. 

Milan,  the  eldest  son  of  Milosh,  sur- 
vived but  three  weeks  after  his  father's 
abdication.  Michel,  the  younger  son, 
succeeded  him.  While  he  was  wrangling 
with  the  Porte  and  Russia,  Vuychitch, 
a  Councillor,  started  a  rebellion  and 
Michel,  not  knowing  what  else  to  do, 
left  Serbia.  This  suited  Vuychitch  and 
soon  the  National  Parliament  elected 
the  son  of  Karageorges  Prince  of  Serbia. 
Serbia  vva^i  quiet  and  prosperous  during 
his  reign,  but  Alexander  himself  was  of  a 
timid  and  wavering  temperament,  not 
even  bold  enough  to  summons  a  National 
Assembly.  Friendly  to  Turkey  and  to 
Austria,  rather  than  to  Russia,  he  pleased 
no  one  of  them,  and  finally,  when  he  did 
call  a  National  Assembly,  the  Council  de- 
throned him.  Old  Milosh  was  now  asked 
to  return  and  the  change  of  rulers  was 
made  without  excitement  or  disorder. 


.vTSI 


SERBIA:     SEAWARD 


67 


At  the  death  of  Milosh  after  three 
short  years,  his  son,  the  exiled  Michel, 
returned  to  the  throne.  In  his  exile  he 
had  grown  wiser  and  he  was  ready  with 
a  definite  program  for  Serbia's  good. 
He  saw  that  if  his  country  was  to  be 
respected,  her  independence  must  be 
guarded.  First  among  his  many  reforms 
was  a  new  Constitution  to  replace  the 
one  Russia  had  imposed  on  Serbia. 
Michel  was  a  good  diplomatist  and,  in 
1862,  when  the  Turkish  Government  at 
Belgrade  bombarded  Belgrade,  he  de- 
manded the  evacuation  of  all  the  forts, 
and  some  of  them  complied.  Next  he 
sent  his  wife  to  London  —  the  beautiful 
Julia,  Countess  Hunyadi.  She  interested 
Gladstone,  Bright,  and  other  influential 
Englishmen  in  little  Serbia.  He  armed 
and  drilled  a  national  army  and  had  an 
understanding  with  Greece  and  other 
Balkan  states  for  a  general  uprising 
against  the  Turks.  Finally  he  requested 
the  Sultan  to  remove  all  Turkish  garrisons 
in  Serbia,  and  when  Great  Britain  sup- 


Mi 


68 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


ported  the  advice  the  other  Great  Powers 
gave  the  Sultan,  the  later,  at  last,  gave 
up  the  forts  to  Michael.  Michael  did 
much  for  Serbia,  He  built  good  high- 
ways, laid  out  parks,  and  gave  her  many 
fine  public  buildings,  including  an  opera 
house.  He  was  among  the  first  to  em- 
phasize Serbia's  need  of  a  seaport,  and 
he  was  equally  far-sighted  in  many  other 
matters. 

Michel  had  no  children  and  when  the 
Karageorges  exiles  heard  that  he  meant 
to  divorce  his  wife  and  remarry,  their 
own  hopes  of  power  in  Serbia  faded. 
Poor  Michel,  their  victim,  was  assassi- 
nated in  the  spring  of  1868.  No  change 
of  dynasty  followed  Michel's  death. 
Serbia  proclaimed  as  Prince,  Milan, 
son  of  a  first  cousin  of  Milosh  the 
elder. 

Milan's  early  years  had  been  spent  in 
Paris,  and  the  kind  of  education  he  re- 
ceived there  left  its  bad  impress  on  his 
whole  life.  When  confirmed  by  the 
Skupchtina  he  was  barely  thirteen,  and 


SERBIA:     SEAWARD  69 

little  more  than  of  age  when,  five  years 
later,   urged   by   Panslavists,   he   had   a 
war  with  Turkey.     Although  Serbia  was 
defeated,    this    war    forced    the    Balkan 
situation,   and  the  attention  of  Europe 
was    turned    toward    the    little    Nation 
that  held  the  key  to  the  Balkans.     Milan 
had  made  strategic  mistakes,  and  when 
the    vast   Turkish    army    was    invading 
Serbia,  he  called  on  the  Great  Powers 
for  help.     While  they  hesitated,  Russia 
ordered  Abdul  Hamid  to  sign  an  imme- 
diate truce.     When  Russia  within  a  few 
weeks  of  this  went  to  war  with  Turkey, 
Serbia,  in  spite  of  her  recent  losses,  was 
able  to  help  her.     After  capturing  Vrania, 
Pirot,  and  Nish,  Serbia  had  the  joy  of 
celebrating  Mass  on  the  Field  of  Kossovo 
where  five  hundred  years  before  she  had 
lost  everything. 

Yet  at  the  Peace  of  Stefano  Serbia 
did  not  get  a  fair  reward.  Her  welfare 
was  but  a  shuttlecock,  beaten  back  and 
forth  between  great  nations.  She  could 
secure,   at  the  Berlin  Congress,   neither 


n 


«i 


70 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


complete  independence  nor  the  annexa- 
tion of  certain  territories  she  hoped  for. 
But  at  this  Congress  Austria  gained  her 
own  ends  by  giving  Serbia  two  strong 
neighbors  for  watchdogs,  Bulgaria  and 
East  Roumelia.  She  also  imposed  a 
barrier  between  Serbia  and  her  strongly 
desired  goal  —  the  sea. 

When  Milan  saw  that  he  could  not 
depend  on  Russia,  whom  he  had  been 
brought  up  to  regard  as  a  friend,  he 
turned  to  Austria.  He  began  to  pay 
long  visits  to  Vienna.  Thus  he  angered 
both  his  own  people  and  the  Tsar,  but 
Austria  was  always  ready  to  give  him 
the  money  his  manner  of  life  required. 
The  building  of  new  railways  threw  the 
Nation  into  debt,  and  between  the  ad- 
vice given  first  by  Progressives,  then  by 
Radicals,  Milan  the  ne'er-do-well  could 
barely  enjoy  a  life  devoted  to  pleasure. 
At  the  beginning  of  his  reign  the  Porte 
had  acknowledged  him  hereditary  Prince 
of  Serbia,  but  Milan,  aiming  higher,  in 
1882  had  himself  proclaimed  King.     Not 


rrrsi 


SERBIA:     SEAWARD 


71 


long  after  this,  in  a  war  with  Bulgaria, 
he  had  to  retreat  ingloriously  before 
Prince  Alexander  of  Battenberg.  Indeed, 
now,  as  on  other  occasions  throughout 
his  reign,  Milan  behaved  like  the  pro- 
verbial spoiled  child.  Sometimes,  fear- 
ing his  people  might  use  a  rod  made  of 
something  more  stinging  than  words,  he 
would  completely  disarm  them  in  a  bril- 
liant speech.  When  things  were  at  their 
very  worst  his  statesmen  would  extri- 
cate him.  Yet  gradually  he  lost  influ- 
ence with  the  Nation  in  spite  of  the  new 
Constitution  which  gave  them  most 
things  that  enlightened  nations  seek. 
But  various  happenings  were  tending  to 
estrange  him  from  his  people,  not  the 
least  of  which  was  his  undignified  quarrel 
with  his  wife,  with  whom,  even  after 
their  divorce,  he  continued  to  bicker 
about  their  son.  Milan  was  rather  a 
blunderer  than  a  villain,  and  as  he  had 
managed  to  hold  the  affection  of  his 
people  through  all  his  misdeeds,  political 
or  domestic,  his  abdication  was  a  great 


n 


!  ; 


72 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


surprise.  He  went  away  suddenly  to 
live  in  Paris  the  life  he  preferred,  after 
making  provision  that  Alexander,  his  son, 
should  succeed  him. 

Alexander  was  but  a  boy  of  fourteen 
when  he  came  to  the  throne  —  a  sub- 
normal boy,  and  wilful,  too.  As  an 
Autocrat  he  had  no  rival  among  modern 
Serbian  rulers.  No  one  unmade  and 
made  so  many  Constitutions.  No  Prince 
or  King  of  Serbia  surprised  his  people 
with  so  many  coups  d'etat.  But  the 
time  had  passed  when  the  misdoings  of 
a  ruler  could  make  the  people  of  Serbia 
very  unhappy.  Although  the  King  never 
failed  to  show  that  he  despised  not  only 
statesmen  and  scholars  but  even  dis- 
tinguished army  officers,  he  could  ter- 
rorize neither  individuals  nor  the  Nation. 
The  three  great  parties.  Liberal,  Radical, 
and  Progressive,  were  not  afraid  to  ex- 
press opinions,  and  many  reforms  were 
projected  and  carried  out.  Serbs  as  a 
whole  were  anxious  to  be  counted  among 
the  people  of  the  world  of  intelligence 


ih 


SERBIA:     SEAWARD 


73 


and  culture.  Alexander  and  Draga  mor- 
tified them;  but  the  assassination  of 
the  wretched  pair  lowered  the  Nation 
in  the  estimation  of  humanity. 

Less  than  a  week  had  passed  since  the 
killing  of  the  King  and  Queen,  in  the 
spring  of  1903,  when  the  Skupchtina 
elected  Peter  Karageorgevitch  to  the 
throne.  This  grandson  of  Karageorges 
had  been  an  exile  for  forty-five  of  his 
fifty-seven  years  of  life.  Austria  and 
Russia  alone  among  the  Great  Powers 
were  willing  now  to  recognize  him.  Great 
Britain  waited  three  years  before  sending 
back  her  Minister  to  Serbia.  This  was 
after  the  regicides  had  gone  from  the 
country. 


IV.  SERBIANS 


w 


*iy 


i 


t 


0  Serbia  was  no  longer  a  child,  and  she 
wore  a  royal  crov/n  She  even  bad  to 
be  considered  by  the  l.;rni'y  of  Nations 
when  makinp  plans.  Soinemcinbersof 
the  family,  indeed,  would  like  to  !ja,c  mavic  i!J 
her  plans  for  Serbia,  without  intimating  that  In 
so  doing  they  would  profit  themselves.  Serbia 
realized  that  there  were  things  she  could  ru>t  do 
without  the  consent  of  some,  or  even  all  oi  thcrn; 
but  she  did  not  wonder  why  —  for  Serbia  herself 
had  grown  up,  and  it  wasn't  merely  a  physical 
development.  She  understood  a  great  many 
things  that  in  her  more  primitive  days  she  could 
not  have  comprehended. 

Sometimes  they  fought  among  themselves, 
with  an  occasional  black  eye  for  one  or  the  other, 
because  they  found  it  hard  to  decide,  not  what 
they  could  do  for  Serbia  —  the  youngest  and  most 
inexperienced  —  but  what  they  could  get  from 
her  without  her  discovering  their  motives,  with- 
out the  others  objecting.  They  forgot  that  Serbia 
was  no  longer  a  child;  l;hcy  did  not  know  that 
she  could  spy  self-interest  in  the  proffers  they 
made  her.  So  she  was  .-oldly  distan*  with  them 
at  times,  though  she  leaned  most  towaid  the  big, 
fur-clad  Cousin  from  the  North.  He  was  closer 
of  kin,  a  double  relation,  and  he  seemed  less  mer- 


S  L  R  B I  A  NS 


75 


cenary  than  some  of  them.  But  even  he  could 
not  get  her  a  home  facing  the  sea.  She  longed 
so  ardently  for  this!  Why  did  every  one  hinder 
her?  The  Imperial  Cousin  on  the  West  was  de- 
termined to  stop  her.  Had  he  not  given  refuge  to 
her  exiled  children  in  the  days  of  darkness?  Had 
he  not  let  them  win  victories  for  him  when  she 
had  hardly  a  friend  in  the  woric'  Was  it  likely 
—  as  human  nature  goes  —  that  he  had  done  this 
without  expecting  a  reward?  No,  she  must  be 
reasonable  and  must  let  him  have  the  first  choice 
of  all  that  she  had  to  sell,  and  at  his  own  price. 
Should  she  reach  the  sea,  others  would  tempt 
her.  She  would  find  all  sorts  of  jjeople  there 
anxious  to  trade  with  her  —  new  jjeople  whom 
she  herself  had  never  yet  had  a  chance  to  help. 
No!  he,  the  Imperial  Cousin,  knew  what  was 
best  for  her.  The  only  trade  route  for  her  was 
the  one  through  his  land.  She  must  send  her 
things  that  way  and,  after  he  had  looked  them 
over,  if  there  was  anything  he  did  not  wish,  she 
might  sell  it  to  some  one  else.  Moreover,  of 
course,  she  must  pay  whatever  he  charged  for 
transportation  and  customs  as  s'le  passed  through 
his  country. 

But  Serbia  had  grown  more  sophisticated. 
Her  costume  of  red  and  gold  still  followed  the 
old  lines;  indeed,  only  a  close  observer  could  see 
any  chai.*;es  in  it.  But  the  ma^  rial  v  as  richer 
than  formerly,  and  she  had  thrown  aside  the 
little  veil  —  symbol,  as  it  seemed  to  her,  of  the 


11 


76 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


darkening  oppression  of  the  Ottoman.  Her 
people  were  clamoring  around  her.  They  as- 
sured her  they  were  not  lazy,  though  p>erhaps 
a  little  slower  than  some  of  their  neighbors. 
Their  fields  yielded  abundantly.  They  dis- 
covered that  by  digging  they  could  get  much 
wealth,  not  only  from  the  surface  but  from  their 
rock;>  far  below.  They  must  be  able  to  exchange 
it  —  to  send  it  readily  where  they  wished.  Why, 
why,  since  they  were  willing  to  pay  for  it,  could 
they  not  have  a  seajjort  of  their  own? 

But  there  was  another  who  was  determined  to 
hold  Serbia  back.  She  did  not  know  him  well; 
for  though  he  bore  the  Imperial  eagle,  he  had 
appropriated  a  title  that  belonged  to  the  old 
house  that  for  a  time  had  held  the  world  in  its 
grasp.  She  would  not  call  him  a  parvenu  —  not 
wholly  a  parvenu  —  yet  why  should  he  trouble 
her?  She  was  not  really  in  his  way.  Could  it 
be  that  he  was  trying  to  curry  favor  with  the 
turbancd  Turk,  and  hoped  to  ingratiate  himself 
the  more  thoroughly  by  tormenting  her?  What 
had  the  Turk  to  give  him?  Ah!  Serbia  had  now 
grown  so  worldly  that  she  suspected  motives  in 
every  action,  even  in  those  sometimes  that  were 
really  guileless. 


ERBIA,  in  the  same  latitude 
as  France  and  Italy,  has  a 
similar  climate,  though  with 
greater  extremes  of  heat  and 
cold;  and  its  average  of  one  hundred 
rainy  days  yearly  prevents  its  being 
called  a  land  of  sunshine.  With  an  area 
about  equal  to  that  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  its  population  of  four  millions  is 
much  smaller  —  nearer,  indeed,  that  of 
Massachusetts.  About  fifteen  thousand 
of  its  nearly  thirty-four  thousand  square 
miles  of  area  is  territory  added  since  the 
Balkan  wars.  The  rivers  of  Serbia  flow 
toward  the  north  into  the  Danube.  Its 
boundary  rivers,  the  Danube,  Save, 
Drina,  and  Timok  are  navigable,  but  of 
those  within  Serbia,  only  the  Morava  is 
navigable,  and  that  for  but  sixty  miles. 
Serbia  is  not  only  protected  by  the 
ranges  on  her  boundaries,  but  four-fifths 
of  the  surface  is  covered  with  mountains, 


MICROCOPY    RESOLUTION   TEST   CHART 

(ANSI  ond  ISO  TEST  CHART  No.  2> 


2.8 


Hi 
Hi 

t3A 

||||Z2 

us 

Li 

|40 

112.0 

1.8 


^    APPLIED  IN/MGE 


1653  East   Mam  Street 

Rochester.   Ne«   York        U609       uSA 

(716)  482  -  OMO  -  Phone 

(716)    288  -  5989  -  fat 


78 


Serbia:   a    sketch 


a  "chaos  of  mountains,"  a  fact  both 
helping  and  hindering  her  progress 
through  the  centuries.  The  general  as- 
pect of  Serbia  is  one  of  beauty,  with 
high  and  rugged  mountains,  mysterious 
forests,  and  long  narrow  river  valleys 
as  picturesque  as  fertile.  Even  the 
Sumadia,  called  the  rallying  point  of  the 
Nation,  is  now  well  cultivated  and  enter- 
prising. Many  medieval  buildings  add 
to  the  picturesqueness  of  the  country, 
forts  and  churches  perched  on  rocky 
heights  or  half  screened  in  the  \^   ods. 

Serbian  towns  resemble  one  another, 
with  their  wide,  clean  streets,  and 
red-roofed  houses  built  of  stone,  with 
suburbs  that  show  many  attractive 
dwellings  surrounded  by  shrubbery.  Even 
if  the  churches  are  not  very  graceful, 
there  are  many  modern  school  buildings 
throughout  the  country.  The  five  larg- 
est towns  have  — or,  alas!  had  — from 
fifteen  thousand  to  about  one  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants  each,  from  Passav- 
owitz  to  Belgrade;    in  order,  Leskovatz, 


i    ; 


SERBIANS 


79 


Kraguievatz,  and   Nish,  but  Belgrade  is 
by  far  the  largest. 

Although  the  original  Serb  type  was 
probably  blonde,  the  minghng  of  the 
Slav  with  the  other  races  in  the  Balkans 
has  brought  it  about  that  most  Serbs  are 
now  dark-skinned  and  dark-haired  and  of 
only  average  stature.  The  tall  blonde 
peasant  of  the  Sumadia  is  an  exception 
to  this  type,  though  the  Serb  generally 
has  a  clear  gray  eye. 

The    Serb    is    excitable    and    volatile. 
While  holding  to  old  things  he  is  ready 
to  grasp  new  ideas,  but  his  new  ideas 
he  cannot  always  make  practical.     It  is 
probably  for  this   reason  that  Serbia  is 
behind    many    countries    in    agricultural 
and  industrial  development.     The  Serb 
is   not  of  a  jealous  disposition.     He  is 
ready  to  praise  what  others  have  done, 
and  though  tenacious  of  purpose  he  is 
neither  dogged  nor  blunt  like  his  neighbor 
the  Bulgarian.    The  modern  Serb  desires 
to  be  well  thought  of.    He  is  anxious  to 
be  measured  by  Western  standards,  yet 


fi 


1  "^i^ 


8o 


Serbia:    a   sketch 


in  his  heart  he  still  cherishes  many  old 
customs.  If  he  is  less  straightforward, 
especially  in  poHtics,  than  one  might 
wish,  his  love  of  strategy  may  be  as- 
cribed to  the  many  years  when  it  took 
something  besides  physical  courage  to 
save  him  from  the  brutality  of  the  Turk. 
Even  his  enemies  admit  his  bravery. 
In  general  character,  the  Serb  may  be 
compared  to  the  Scotch  Highlander, 
"brave  in  battle,  with  much  canniness 
in  prosecuting  material  interests."  All 
visitors  to  Serbia  rote  the  great  hos- 
pitality of  the  Serb,  and  he  shows  a 
marked  courtesy  in  dealing  with  others. 
He  is  fond  of  fun  and  laughter,  as  any 
one  reahzes  who  sees  him  at  a  festival, 
dancing  the  national  dance  —  the  kolo 
—  to  the  sound  of  the  flute  and  the  bag- 
pipe, and  often,  afterwards,  listening  to 
the  heroic  verse  of  the  guslar  as  he 
accompanies  them  on  the  gusle. 

The  Serb's  religion  is  alm-jst  the  same 
as  patriotism  with  him.  The  Orthodox 
Church  of  Serbia  to-day   has   a  strong 


SERBIANS 


8l 


resemblance  to  the  early  Christian  Church 
of  the  eighth  century.  "Here  we  know 
the  English  very  well,  and  your  Church 
is  not  unlike  our  own,"  said  a  Serb  to 
an  English  traveler  recently.  The  inde- 
pendence of  the  Serbian  Church  is  largely 
due  to  the  fact  that  the  Turks  did  not 
interfere  with  the  religious  faith  of  the 
Serbs  in  the  long  dark  night  of  oppres- 
sion. Though  this  may  have  been  merely 
from  their  contempt  for  the  conquered 
and  their  Church,  the  result  was  to  the 
advantage  of  the  Serb. 

Many  Serbian  traditions  are  contrary 
to  the  spirit  of  the  Christian  Church,  but 
the  Church  early  found  that  the  only 
v/ay  to  hold  the  Serb  was  to  be  patient 
in  the  hope  that  Christianity  would 
eventually  modify  his  Pagan  beliefs.  In 
few  nations  is  there  such  a  minghng  of 
heathen  traditions  and  piety.  The  tradi- 
tions, yes,  even  the  superstitions  of  the 
Serb  helped  him  bear  the  hardships  of 
the  Turkish  reign.  While  the  Serb  has 
held  fast  to  Christianity  for  more  than 


■  m 


82 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


a  thousand  years  and  while  bigotry  and 
atheism  are  almost  unknown  in  Serbia, 
the  Serb  does  not  attend  Church  de- 
votedly. He  is,  however,  very  faithful 
to  religious  customs,  though  many  of 
these  originated  in  heathendom.  The 
Saints  are  very  real  to  him  and  each 
one  has  duties,  yet  some  of  them  are  very 
like  the  gods  of  mythology. 

The  Serb  is  a  great  observer  of  signs 
and  they  deeply  affect  his  daily  life. 
His  manner  of  getting  up,  of  dressing, 
the  person  whom  he  first  meets  in  the 
day,  the  way  the  dog  barks  or  the  moon 
shines  —  all  these  things  have  some 
influence  on  his  actions.  Many  of  his 
superstitions  naturally  relate  to  birth, 
death,  and  marriage.  Most  youths  and 
maidens  know  just  what  to  do  to  dis- 
cover their  future  husband  or  wife. 

There  is  poetry  in  many  Serb  beliefs 
about  death,  notably  that  death  can  be 
foretold  by  the  person  himself  or  by 
some  of  his  family.  Very  beautiful  is 
the  idea  that  there  is  a  star  for  every 


I  f 


SERBIANS  83 

person,  that  disappears  when  that  person 
dies.  The  Serb  has  a  stronnc  faith  in 
'mmortality.  He  believes  in  both  good 
and  bad  spirits,  and  in  witches  and  en 
chanters,  as  well  as  in  the  poetic  Vili. 
He  occasionally  hunted  and  killed  witches 
in  the  olden  times.  Vampires,  too,  have 
had  an  existence  in  his  imagination.  To 
protect  himself  from  ail  these  evil  things, 
the  Serb  of  old  had  various  superstitious 
practi-:-'^!,  and  it  is  surprising  sometimes 
to-ciw^  to  find  him  cherishing  primitive 
beliefs.  As  cattle  raising  for  example  is 
certainly  one  of  his  chief  occupations, 
many  superstitions  exist  and  are  put 
into  prac;xe  for  making  the  cattle  healthy 
and  fat,  and  for  protecting  them  from 
wild  beasts.  The  Serb  also  knows  what 
charm  to  use  to  make  his  wheatfields 
grow,  to  prevent  droughts  and  other 
things  that  might  injure  his  crops  or  his 
fruit  trees. 

Among  all  their  festivals,  the  Serbs 
celebrate  Christmas  the  most  elabo- 
rately, with  feasts  and  ceremonies,  many 


84         Serbia:   a   sketch 

of  which  come  down  from  Pagan  days. 
After  supper,  on  Christmas  eve,  seeds 
and  crumbs  are  scattered  outside  as  a 
treat  for  the  birds,  which,  they  say, 
are  also  God's  creatures.  A  young  oak 
or  baidnak  always  plays  a  conspicuous 
part  in  the  Christmas  festival  and  the 
ceremonies  attending  it  are  most  pic- 
turesque. The  Slava  is  also  a  most  im- 
portant festival.  It  is  a  family  celebration 
and  generally  falls  on  the  Feast  Day  of 
some  great  Saint.  After  a  man's  death, 
the  same  Slava  is  kept  by  his  son.  In 
some  regions,  people  with  the  same  Slava 
do  not  marry,  for  having  the  same  Slava 
may  mean  thp^  tSy  are  of  the  same 
stock.    Of  all  .he  Serbs  are  most 

scrupulous  noi  ,.rry  those  who  are 

nearly  related  to  cnem. 

While  religion  is  so  strongly  a  part  of 
his  daily  life,  the  Serb  is  yet  disinclined 
to  engage  in  abstract  religious  discus- 
sions. This  is  strange  since  he  is  very 
fond  of  long  political  and  historical  argu- 
ments.    An  English  traveler  came  upon 


SERBIANS  85 

two  men  engaged  in  a  fisticuff  fight. 
When  he  inquired  the  cause,  he  was 
told  that  the  two  had  a  disagreement 
about  something  that  had  happened  at 
the  Battle  of  Kossovo,  five  hundred  years 
before. 

Although  there  is  less  now  than  in 
former  times  of  the  unique  and  formal 
swearing  of  brotherhood  between  Serb 
and  Serb,  the  feeUng  of  brotherhood  is 
still  very  strong.  Travelers  through  the 
country  sometimes  come  upon  rude  stones 
erected  to  soldiers  who  have  died  "for 
the   glory   and   freedom   of  his   brother 

Serbs." 

What  has  been  said  about  the  men 
applies  to  a  great  extent  to  the  women 
of  Serbia.  It  must  be  admitted,  however, 
that  in  the  interior  of  the  country  woman 
is  still  reckoned  inferior  to  man  —  the 
plaything  of  youth,  the  nurse  of  old  age. 
But  the  modern  Serbian  woman  is  com- 
ing to  the  front.  She  is  not  strong- 
minded  in  the  Hmited  sense,  not  anxious, 
like  her  Russian  kinswoman,  to  mix  in 


86 


Serbia:    a    sketch 


politics,  yet  she  is  deeply  interested  in 
national  affairs  and  in  crises  she  i  a'ways 
ready  to  help.  If  she  does  not  work  as 
hard  as  the  Montenegrin  woman  she  still 
performs  much  heavy  labor.  The  men 
of  Serbia  encourage  her  higher  ambition. 
Of  late  years,  many  Serb  women  have 
gone  abroad  for  training  as  teachers,  or 
to  engage  in  technical  work.  Not  infre- 
quently, their  expenses  have  been  paid 
wholly  or  in  part  by  some  brother  or 
cousin  whose  own  earnings  were  small. 

To  tell  what  Serb  women  have  done 
in  the  many  wars  of  their  country  would 
be  a  long  story.  N^t  content  with  pro- 
vio  ng  food  and  cIo'  ing  for  the  soldiers 
and  nursing  the  wounded,  time  and 
.  again  they  have  carried  guns  and  have 
fought  by  the  side  of  the  men  of  their 
families.  This  was  notably  the  case  in 
the  late  war  with  Bulgaria,  and  in  the 
present  war  also  many  of  them  have 
served  as  soldiers. 

The  Serb  woman  is  not  willing  "  3  go 
out  as  a  domestic.     She  prefers  to  earn 


SERBIANS  87 

money,  If  she  lias  to,  as  a  teacher,  secre- 
tary, or  nurse,  or  in  a  profession;  but 
in  her  own  home  the  SerL)  woman  does 
no  end  of  work.  She  is  the  first  to  rise, 
the  last  to  go  to  bed,  and  seems  never  to 
rest,  for  she  does  all  the  housework.  She 
spins,  weaves,  and  embroiders;  cooks, 
washes,  milks  the  cows,  makes  cheese; 
she  takes  care  of  the  children  and  the 
sick;  she  makes  the  family  pottery  and 
sometimes  the  opanke  or  shoes. 

But  the  condition  of  her  country  the 
past  few  years  has  to  a  g'-eat  extent  de- 
stroyed the  home  life  of  the  Serb  women. 
Very    remarkable   was   the    "Lc  igue   of 
Death"  the  women  formed   In  the  war 
before  the  present.     Your  ^  and     Id   o» 
all  social  conditions   became  gooa  shoi 
and   stood  side  by   side,   rides  on    i;u'ir 
shoulders,    like    men.      They    made    t' 
men  wear  the  medal  of  the  League. 
that  war  women  did  not  join  the  fightiUt 
troops,  as  in  the  present.    But  they  often 
accompanied  them  on  the  march,  carry- 
ing on  notched  sticks  their  heavy  bun- 


88 


Serbia:    a    sketch 


dies  with  clothes  and  domestic  utensils, 
and  set  up  their  little  households  wher- 
ever the  men  happened  to  halt. 

In  the  present  war,  Serbia  has  a  three- 
fold claim  on  Americans:  Because  of  the 
democracy  of  its  institutions  and  people; 
because  of  the  simplicity  of  life  as  it  is 
lived  there;  and  because  of  its  jenturies 
of  struggle  for  political  independence. 

Serbia  is  one  of  the  most  democratic 
corntries  in  the  world.  It  has  no  titles, 
except  those  of  the  King  and  his  next 
of  kin.  All  other  Serbians  are  "gos- 
podin"  and  "gospoja,"  our  "Mr."  and 
"Mrs."  The  farmer  is  the  real  aristo- 
crat and  eighty  per  cent  of  the  Serbians 
are  farmers. 

The  farmer  has  many  things  in  h*= 
favor.  Even  the  peasant  has  five  acres 
of  land  allotted  him  by  the  government; 
and  in  his  home  garden  he  raises  car- 
rots and  turnips  and  pumpkins  and 
melons.  The  larger  farmers  raise  wheat 
and  corn  and  sugar  beets,  oats  and  all 
the  cereals;   and  cattle  in  large  numbers. 


k^iLji 


SERBIANS 


8q 


They  raise  their  own  food  and  j^  .^re 
chiefly  vegetarians;  and  they  carry  ihcir 
surplus  in  ox-teams  to  the  nearest  market. 
Prices  are  regulated  by  the  Agricultural 
Society.  Ever  irmer  gives  one  or  two 
days  a  year  .  ,he  State  and  pays  his 
taxes  in  kind.  When  crops  fail,  the 
Cooperative  Agricultural  Society  lends 
him  money.  It  also  advances  money 
ibr  implements  and  buildings,  and  offers 
prizes  for  cattle  and  improved  stock. 

Living  a  simple  Hfe,  the  average  Ser- 
bian needs  little  money.  One  dollar  in 
Serbia  is  equal  to  five  dollars  here.     If 

farmer  enters  trade,  he  is  thought  to 
^^  going  down  in  the  world.  He  may 
enter  banking  or  life  insurance  with  no 
discredit,  but  the  shopkeepers  of  the 
country  are  largely  foreigners.  In  all 
Serbia  there  are  hardly  two-score  mil- 
lionaires. Serbian  women  are  good  house- 
wives and  do  much  of  their  own  work. 
Serbians,  in  general,  are  too  independent 
to  be  servants;  and  the  latter  are  largely 
Austrians.     Government     (  nployees     in 


90 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


Serbia  are  natives.  Young  Serbians  also 
are  educated  for  the  church,  the  army, 
for  law,  and  for  school  teaching.  Young 
men  intended  for  the  army  generally 
study  in  France,  for  scientific  work  in 
Germany,  for  the  church  in  Russia. 
Many  young  Serbians,  too,  have  studied 
in  Switzerland  and  in  Belgium.  Thus, 
Serbian  society  as  a  whole  is  sympa- 
thetic with  foreign  countries. 

Of  the  four  million  inhabitants  of  Ser- 
bia proper,  the  larger  number  belong  to 
the  Orthodox  Greek  Church,  but  there 
are  also  a  good  many  Roman  Catholics 
and  some  Moslems.  Though  their  life 
is  in  general  very  simple,  Serbians  are 
not  wholly  untouched  by  modern  prog- 
ress. Many  towns  have  electric  hghts 
and  telephones,  and  electric  trams  are 
by  no  means  unknown.  Serbia  has  rich 
mineral  resources,  which  the  State  is 
undertaking  to  develop.  Among  their 
manufactures  is  a  remarkable  wool  car- 
pet and  a  certain  kind  of  coarse  hnen. 
Though  they  have  a  fairly  large  output 


SERBIANS 


91 


of  silk,  silk  fabrics  as  well  as  finer  tex- 
tiles are  imported.  A  man  who  has  a 
salary  of  three  thousand  dollars  is  an  ex- 
ception, and  considered  very  prosperous. 
Salaries  of  cabinet  ministers  hardly  ex- 
ceed this  sum,  and  court  life  does  not 
tend  to  any  magnificence. 

Serbians  marry  young.  There  is  little 
illegitimacy  in  the  country  and  infre- 
quent divorce.  They  have  been  called 
automatically  eugenic  —  on  account  of 
their  strict  marriage  laws  forbidding 
marriage  under  certain  degrees  of  rela- 
tionship. The  Serbians  are  a  domestic 
people,  devoted  to  their  children;  hence, 
the  present  condition  of  the  country  is 
especially  tragic. 

The  people  of  Serbia  have  the  great- 
est admiration  for  Americans,  and  for 
the  independence  and  political  ideas  of 
America. 

The  valorous  struggle  of  little  Serbia 
against  Austria,  its  tireless  enemy,  as- 
tonished the  world  at  the  beginning  of 
the  present  war.    It  accomplished  hardly 


92         Serbia:    a    sketch 

less  for  the  cause  of  the  Allies  In  the  East 
than  the  resistance  of  Belgium  in  the 
West.  Yet,  at  first,  the  sufferings  of 
the  more  distant  Serbians  attracted  less 
attention  than  the  case  demanded.  Their 
agony  continues  acute  and  terrible. 


V.    SERBIA:  SIGHING 


HEN,  at  last,  Serbia  reached  the  sea. 
Unexpectedly,  it  is  true,  and  not  at 
the  point  that  she  had  long  had  in 
mind.  Sad  and  bereft,  was  she  de- 
serted by  God  as  well  as  by  man?  As  she  sat 
there  alone  she  heard  a  confused  murmur  of 
voices,  and  she  vaguely  distinguished  the  cries 
of  children  for  their  fathers,  and  wives  for  their 
husbands  —  and  tales  echoed  in  her  ears  that 
were  sadder,  more  horrible,  than  the  most  hor- 
rible tales  of  the  Turkish  night.  Poor  Serbia! 
Her  garments  were  torn  and  stained  with  snow 
and  mud,  her  face  was  bruised.  Gone,  gone  her 
aspect  of  happy  prosperity.  Yet  in  spite  of  all 
she  had  suffered  there  was  a  light  in  her  eyes 
—  the  light  of  her  soul  shining  through  the  sad- 
ness. She  was  not  bowed  down,  though  her  at- 
titude spoke  of  sorrow.  She  was  disturbed  not 
for  herself,  but  for  her  people.  How  they  had 
suffered!  She  did  not  try  to  shut  her  ears  to  the 
murmurs  that  still  came  to  her  —  children  cry- 
ing faintly  and  oh,  so  pitifully!  and  strong 
men,  yes,  she  heard  the  moaning  of  strong 
men.  Then  as  she  looked  in  the  direction  of 
the  sound,  she  saw  a  mother  bowed  in  grief  beside 
a  long  snowy  road,  yet  uttering  no  word  as  old 


94 


SERBIA.-     A     SKETCH 


men,  strangers  to  her,  found  a  place  for  the 
little  frozen  body  under  the  hard  ground.  She 
saw  a  long,  long  line  winding  up  the  narrow, 
shelving  road,  where  a  false  step  at  any  moment 
might  send  a  man  to  death  into  the  river  five 
hundred  feet  below.  "The  best  fighters  in  the 
world!"  It  had  made  her  proud  to  hear  this, 
but  now  how  could  they  fight  the  savage  winter? 
Worst  place  of  all,  Kossovo,  where  not  so  long 
before  she  had  celebrated  Mass  triumphantly, 
Kossovo,  again  to  be  as  when  it  was  first  named 
"The  Field  of  Black  Birds,"  "The  Field  of 
Vultures."  Now  the  stricken  lay  never  to  rise 
again  and  for  a  moment  Serbia  could  look  no 
longer. 

There  were  other  things  along  the  road  — 
rifles,  and  cartridge  belts,  burdens  too  heavy  to 
carry  far,  and  she  wished  that  all  such  things 
might  lie  on  the  ground  forever,  never  to  be  used 
by  young  or  old. 

Alas,  the  little  boys!  the  little  boys  who  had 
never  been  away  from  their  mothers  —  the  hope 
of  Serbia  —  dying  by  thousands  along  that 
dreary  road;  dying,  dying  on  the  plain  of  Kossovo. 
War,  for  them,  a  kind  of  holiday!  They  wei^ 
soldiers  now;  they  would  be  real  men  when  they 
reached  the  sea!  The  little  boys,  the  hope  of  the 
future!  Of  the  thirty  thousand  who  trod  that 
dreary  road,  only  a  half  lived  to  reach  the  sea. 
Not  one-half  of  these  reached  the  island  where 
they  were  to  have  their  training  as  soldiers. 


y_ 


SERBIA:     SIGHING 


95 


The  soul  of  Serbia  was  in  agony  as  a  ghostlike 
army,  pale,  pinched,  and  starved,  crept  over  the 
snowy  mountains,  over  the  soggy  roads  -  -  men, 
women,  and  poor  dumb  animals  sinking  in  to 
their  death.  Of  those  who  came  to  the  edge  of 
the  sea  some  could  hold  out  no  longer,  but  died 
when  comfort  was  near. 


lESPITE  the  circumstances 
under  which  he  came  to  the 
throne,  no  one  believed  that 
King  Peter  had  planned  or 
had  anything  to  do  with  the  murder  of 
Alexander  and  Draga;  he,  the  direct 
descendant  of  the  honest  Karageorges. 
Yet  it  could  not  be  denied  that  he  had 
profited  by  this  murder  and,  conse- 
quently, even  when  the  horror  of  the 
whole  thing  had  faded  from  the  minds  of 
other  Europeans,  he  had  a  certain  amount 
of  prejudice  to  overcome.  Yet  in  the 
first  ten  years  of  his  reign,  Serbia  had 
prospered.  Her  nearly  one  thousand 
miles  of  railways  had  brought  her  in 
closer  connection  with  the  world.  Though 
the  debt  incurred  for  these  railways  and 
other  improvements  were  large  she  had 
no  trouble  in  borrowing  money.  Her 
loans  were  readily  take  .  by  outside  capi- 
talists. 


4BIEISHIPMI 


SERBIA:     SIGHING 


97 


In  the  hundred  years  since  she  had 
been  freed  from  Turkish  rule,  Serbia 
had  made  constant  advance  in  culture,  in 
all  that  may  be  called  economic  life.  Her 
peasant  farmers  not  only  produced  all 
that  the  Serbians  themselves  needed  — 
wheat,  barley,  maize,  fruits  of  various 
kinds,  cattl< ,  and  pigs  —  but  there 
was  a  demand  for  iome  of  their  staples 
in  other  countries,  and  more  and  more 
they  required  a  larger  market;  more 
and  more  they  chafed  under  the  re- 
strictions made  by  Austria.  The  whole 
country  realized,  as  outsiders  had  real- 
ized, that  Austria  was  slowly  squeezing 
her;  that  Austria  would  be  ready  to 
devour  her  when  the  right  time  came. 
The  King  had  a  difficult  task  in  keeping 
his  people  contented. 

Politically,  however,  Serbia  in  the 
nineteenth  century  had  made  great  ad- 
vances, and  PCing  Peter's  domain  was  a 
well-organized  limited  monarchy.  After 
many  vicissitudes  Serbia  at  last  has  an 
excellent  Constitution,  well  meeting  all 


^u 


98  SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 

the  needs  of  the  Nation.  In  the  King 
and  the  Skupchtina  is  vested  all  the 
legislative  power.  The  Skupchtina,  an 
assembly  elected  by  proportional  repre- 
sentation, has  complete  control  of  the 
national  finances.  Serbia  has  good  Courts 
of  Justice  and  a  humane  prison  system, 
and  her  standing  army  not  only  has  to 
be  taken  into  account  by  the  Great 
Po>vers,  but  has  spoken  loudly  for  itself 
in  the  present  war.  Serbia  has  also 
good  local  government;  the  scheme  for 
which  includes  two  public  bodies,  a 
municipal  council  and  a  communal  tri- 
bunal. 

Serbia,  after  many  years  of  backward- 
ness, has  been  paying  great  attention  to 
education.  The  Minister  of  Education 
is  a  man  of  great  prestige  and  influence. 
Teachers  are  well  trained  and  well  paid. 
It  is  not  strange,  perhaps,  that  a  people 
with  the  Serbians*  deep  poetic  sensibility 
should  in  the  past  have  given  little  atten- 
tion to  technical  training,  but  a  change 
has  of  late  been  coming,  a  change  of  atti- 


.■^' 


*     ,-  ~:'^      1.1:-"  J  -    ,,-         r'l.-T-    v^     ■  '-v  -• 


^ 


SERBIA:     SIGHING 


99 


tude  that  after  the  war  will  undoubterilv 
produce  important  results.  From  the 
earliest  days  the  Serb  has  had  a  marked 
aptitude  for  handicraft.  In  medieval 
documents,  certain  Serbian  blacksmiths 
arc  named  as  expert  makers  of  penknives, 
and  to-day  Serbian  metal  work  has  high 
rank.  Unlike  the  Greek,  the  Serb  has 
little  aptitude  for  trade,  and  unlike  the 
Bulgar,  he  is  rather  sluggish  in  working 
his  farm,  slow  to  use  improved  methods 
or  new  implements.  Yet,  in  spite  of  the 
many  upheavals  at  home,  he  has  been 
constantly  progressing,  and  since  he  threw 
off  Turkish  rule  has  each  year  become 
sturdier  and  more  self-reliant.  Indeed,  he 
can  be  called  to-day  efficient  in  both  the 
economic  and  the  military  sense. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  Serbia  was  one 
of  the  largest  silver-producing  countries 
in  Europe.  Her  mountains  have  as  yet 
given  up  but  little  of  their  treasure.  The 
Romans  knew  the  mines  and  brought 
out  of  them  much  gold,  silver,  iron,  and 
lead  and,  during  the  later  Middle  Ages, 


I 


100 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


the  merchants  of  Ragusa  obtained  no 
small  portion  of  their  wealth  from  the 
same  source,  but  about  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century  the  Turks  put  an  end 
to  all  enterprises  of  this  kind.  In  the 
first  half  of  the  last  century,  mining 
was  revived.  Belgian  capital  had  a 
large  part  in  this,  especially  in  producing 
copper  and  iron. 

The  copper  mines  south  of  Passa- 
rowitz  ""ere  said  to  be  among  the  rich- 
est, if  not  the  richest;  in  the  world.  But 
as  yet  Serbia  herself  hardly  appreciated 
the  value  of  her  own  resources.  Her  less 
than  one  thousand  miles  of  railways  had 
loaded  her  with  a  heavy  debt.  Austria 
had  improved  the  Danube  —  largely, 
however,  for  Austria's  advantage.  But 
Serbia  began  to  look  about.  She  was 
determined  to  gain,  if  possible,  the  eco- 
nomic independence  she  longed  for.  With 
a  resourceful  King,  wdth  a  competent 
Ministry  headed  by  the  eminent  Pachich, 
this  ought  not  to  be  difficult,  she  thought, 
ought  to  be  much  less  difficult  than  her 


SERBIA:     SIGHING 


lOI 


long,  hard  struggle  for  political  inde- 
pendence. 

The  spirit  of  the  Serb  has  been  shown 
in  the  remarkable  development  of  co- 
operation in  industry,  especially  in  the 
twentieth  century.  "Only  Union  is  Ser- 
bia's Salvation"  —  this  was  f  Sava's 
famous    saying    in    the   di''*  cwelfth 

century.  Politically,  his  vvords  had 
proved  true  for  Serbia,  and  economically 
they  had  begun  to  show  their  value, 
especially  in  King  Peter's  reign. 

One  reason  for  the  success  of  nine- 
teenth century  cooperation  in  Serbia  may 
be    found    in    the    Zadruga    of   ancient 

mes.  This  was  a  large  family  associa- 
tion including  male  kinship  to  the  second 
and  the  third  degree.  It  often  numbered 
more  than  a  hundred  individuals;  each 
member  had  a  fixed  duty  and  the  reve- 
nues were  divided  among  all  the  mem- 
bers. The  Zadruga  was  ruled  by  an  elder 
or  Stareschina.  Sometimes  the  Stares- 
china  was  a  woman.  The  Stareschina 
kept  the  money-box  and  attended  to  the 


m 


?!  ! 


102 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


1 


payment  of  taxes.  The  women  of  the 
Zadruga  obeyed  the  Stareschina's  wife. 
This  kind  of  community  life  was  so 
familiar  to  the  Serbs  that  it  was  no 
unusual  thing  when  some  one  asked, 
"Whose  is  that  drove  of  sheep?"  to 
hear  the  reply  "Ours,"  never  "Mine." 

In  Literature,  in  Science,  in  Art,  the 
Serb  had  begun  to  take  his  rightful  place 
in  Europe,  encouraged  by  the  example  of 
a  large-minded,  cultured  monarch. 

Serbia  had  long  reahzed  that  within 
her  boundaries  lived  hardly  half  of  the 
Serb  race  in  Europe.  The  feeling  of 
brotherhood  with  all  his  kin  which  is  so 
powerful  a  characteristic  of  the  individual 
Serb  is  even  more  marked  in  the  Serbian 
Nation.  A  generation  ago  Serbia  was 
willing  to  go  to  war  with  Turkey  to  help 
her  downtrodden  kindred  in  Bosnia  and 
Herzegovina.  "The  saving  of  Old  Serbia 
and  the  Union  of  the  Serb  peoples  is  the 
star  by  which  the  Serb  steers,"  said  a 
traveler  in  the  early  part  of  King  Peter's 
reign,  and  certainly  to  the  liberty-loving 


SERBIA:     SIGHING 


103 


Serb  this  was  a  beautiful  vision  —  that 
he  was  sometime  to  liberate  from  Turkish 
and  from  Austrian  control  all  his  op- 
pressed brothers,  the  four  and  a  half 
millions  whom  the  twentieth  century 
found  so  restive  under  Turkish,  Teutonic, 
or  Magyar  control. 

For  Serbia,  then,  her  entrance  into 
The  Balkan  League  in  191 2  was  a  natural 
sequence  of  many  of  her  previous  as- 
pirations and  efforts.  In  presence  of  a 
common  danger  —  the  Teuton  working 
through  the  Turk  —  the  Balkan  States 
put  aside  their  own  particular  rivalries 
and  formed  a  Union.  This  was  effective, 
and  the  Turks  were  defeated.  But  when 
Turkey  was  defeated,  Bulgaria  and  Ser- 
bia were  again  at  sword's  points.  It 
was  not  a  question  of  jealousies  between 
small  kingdoms,  but  rather  a  larger  issue 
—  Pan-Slavism  as  against  Pan-Teuton- 
ism.  Serbs,  wherever  found,  were  out- 
spoken, and  Austria  saw  that  she  might 
have  to  give  up  not  only  her  hope  of 
adding  Serbia  to  her  dominions  but  be- 


i." 


104 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


sides  this  lose  her  dominion  over  the  Serbs 
within  the  dual  monarchy.  From  that 
time  she  hardly  tried  to  hide  her  inten- 
tion of  punishing  Serbia  for  her  ambition. 
Serbia,  meanwhile,  was  growing  bolder, 
stronger.  Though  her  successes  in  recent 
wars  had  not  given  her  her  coveted  sea- 
port, she  had  fouiid  ways  of  getting  a 
considerable  proportion  of  her  products 
to  market  without  sending  them  through 
Austria.  Her  imports  from  Austria  fell 
off  largely.  Austria  and  Germany  saw 
that  they  would  have  difficulty  in  mak- 
ing Serbia  a  docile  ward,  especially  as 
M.  Pachich  in  191 2  had  made  it  plain  to 
the  other  Powers  that  it  would  be  to 
their  advantage  to  give  Serbia  r.  chance 
to  expand. 

It  was  eleven  years  almost  to  a  day 
from  the  time  he  came  to  the  throne, 
when  Peter's  security  was  shattered  by 
an  explosion.  The  Archduke  Ferdinand, 
heir  to  the  Austrian  throne,  and  his  wife, 
while  making  a  tour  through  Bosnia,  were 
killed  at  Sarajevo  by  a  Serb,  not  one  of 


SERBIA:     SIGHING 


105 


the  kingdom  of  Serbia  but  a  Serb  of 
Greater  Serbia.  Austria,  that  had  been 
for  so  long  watching  Serbia  as  a  cat 
watches  a  mouse,  quickly  pounced  on 
the  little  kingdom.  She  made  demands 
such  as  no  civihzed  country  could  comply 
with,  and  at  last  gave  an  ultimatum  on 
the  twenty-seventh  of  July  which  had 
far-reaching  consequences.  It  was  a 
stone  thrown  into  a  quiet  pool  and  the 
ripples  and  eddies  reached  unthought-of 
shores,  as  the  whole  world  now  knows. 

There  are  many  strange  circumstances 
connected  with  this  murder.  Those  who 
have  followed  out  the  various  ckies  have 
seen  evidence  that  the  Serb  government 
had  no  knowledge  of  the  proposed  murder, 
but  there  is  much  that  tends  to  show  that 
the  assr».ssination  was  not  a  great  surprise 
to  Austria  —  that  Ferdinand,  even  at 
home,  wa  >  in  fear  of  his  life.  He  always 
slept  in  a  room  without  furniture  and 
not  long  before  the  assassination  he  had 
taken  out  a  life  insurance,  the  largest  life 
insurance  known.    In  case  of  his  death,  it 


io6 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


was  necessary  to  make  provision  for  his 
consort  who  could  hope  nothing  from 
the  house  of  which  he  had  long  been  the 
heir.  When  Ferdinand's  heir  had  a  son 
born  to  him,  the  Austrians  turned  against 
Ferdinand  and  wished  him  out  of  the 
way.  His  removal,  indeed,  was  a  greater 
object  to  Austria-Hungary  than  to  Ser- 
bia, for  It  was  generally  known  that  he 
was  hberal  in  his  ideas  regarding  the 
Serbs  in  the  dual  monarchy,  and  had 
even  formed  a  plan  for  giving  them  Home 
Rule. 

From  the  beginning  Austria-Hungary 
tried  to  impr  ss  on  the  world  that  the 
shooting  of  Archduke  Ferdinand  was  part 
of  a  revolt  of  the  southern  Slav  provinces 
of  Austria  instigated  by  the  Serbian  gov- 
ernment. On  the  twenty-third  of  July, 
Austria  sent  an  ultimatum  to  Serbia  de- 
manding that  she  use  every  means  in 
her  power  to  punish  the  assassins  and 
stop  all  further  anti-Austrian  propa- 
ganda. The  next  day,  Russia  asked  Tor 
delay,  and  on  July  twenty-fifth,  ten  min- 


SERBIA:     SIGHING 


107 


utes  before  the  time  of  the  ultimatum 
expired,  Serbia  made  due  apologies  and 
agreed  to  all  the  conditions  imposed  by 
Austria  except  the  one  that  Austria 
should  have  official  representatives  in 
the  work  of  investigation.  Two  days 
later,  the  Austrian  foreign  office  issued 
a  statement  with  these  words:  "Serbia's 
note  is  filled  with  the  spirit  of  dishonesty." 
Austria  was  determined  on  war.  She 
had  not  accepted  Serbia's  apologies. 

Then  the  Great  Slav  came  to  the  rescue 
of  the  smaller.  Russia  immediately  noti- 
fied Austria  that  she  would  not  allow 
Serbian  territory  to  be  invaded.  Now 
it  was  Germany's  turn.  She  let  it  be 
known  semi-officially  that  she  stood  ready 
to  back  Austria.  No  one,  she  said,  must 
interfere  between  Austria-Hunga^-y  and 
Serbia.  On  this  twenty-seventh  of  July 
Sir  Edvnrd  Gray,  Great  Britain's  For- 
eign Secretary,  proposed  a  London  con- 
ference of  the  Ambassadors  of  all  the 
Great  Powers.  France  and  Italy  at  once 
accepted  but  Austria  and  Germany  de- 


"H- 


io8 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


dined  this  invitation.     On  the  twenty- 
eighth  of  July  came  the  fateful  call  to 
war.     "Austria-Hungary  considers  itself 
in  a  state  of  war  with  Serbia."     The 
reason  given   for  this  was   that   Serbia 
had  not  rephed  satisfactorily  to  Austria's 
note  of  the  twenty-third  of  July.    Events 
followed   in  quick  succession.     Russia's 
mobilization  was  followed  by  a  request 
from  Germany  that  she  stop  this  move- 
ment of  the  troops  and  make  a  reply 
within   twenty-four   hours.     Whereupon 
England  notified  Germany  that  she  could 
not  stand  aloof  from  a  general  conflict; 
that  the  balance  of  power  could  not  be 
destroyed.      Russia    made    no    reply    to 
Germany's  ultimatum  but  instead  sent 
out  a  manifesto:    "Russia  is  determined 
not  to  allow  Serbia  to  be  crushed  and 
will    fulfil    its   duty    in   regard   to   that 
small    kingdom."      Next,    the    German 
Ambassador  at  the  French  foreign  office 
expressed    fear   of   friction   between   the 
Triple  Alliance  and  the  Triple  Entente 
unless   the    impending   conflict    between 


SERBIA:     SIGHING 


09 


Austria  and  Serbia  should  be  strictly 
localized. 

On  August  first,  the  German  Ambassa- 
dor handed  a  declaration  of  war  to  the 
Russian  Foreign  Minister.  This  meant 
war  with  France,  and  hardly  had  the 
French  Government  issued  general  mo- 
bihzation  orders  when  the  invasion  of 
France  began.  A  day  later,  Germany 
demanded  of  Belgium  free  passage  for 
her  troops,  and  the  French  Government 
proclaimed  martial  law  in  France  and 
Algiers.  All  Continental  Europe  was  now 
adame.  The  German  Ambassador  had 
made  a  strong  bid  for  British  neu- 
trality ^  '.nd  Great  Britain's  reply  was 
noble.  After  speaking  of  its  friendship 
with  France  it  concluded  with  the  words: 
"Whether  that  friendship  involves  obli- 
gations, let  every  man  look  into  his  own 
heart  and  construe  that  obligation  for 
himself." 

On  the  fourth  of  August,  after  Italy 
had  proclaimed  her  neutrality,  England's 
ulvimatum  was  sent  to  Germany.    When 


no 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


no  reply  came,  the  Sritish  foreign  office 
announced  that  a  state  of  war  existed 
between  the  two  countries  and  Germany 
gave  the  British  Ambassador  his  passport. 
A  day  later,  President  Wilson  offered  the 
good  offices  of  the  United  States  to  bring 
about  a  settlement  between  the  warring 
powers.  On  the  seventh  of  August,  a 
day  after  Austria-Hungary  had  declared 
war  on  Russia,  Germany  announced  that 
jealousy  of  Germany  was  the  real  cause 
of  the  war.  On  the  ninth  of  August, 
Serbia,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  the  German 
Ambassador,  declared  war  on  Germany 
and,  finally,  war  was  declared  between 
France  and  Austria,  and  Austria  and 
Great  Britain.  Portugal  reported  that 
she  was  on  the  side  of  Great  Britain. 

Soon  Austrian  troops  were  invading 
Serbia,  three  to  one.  On  the  twenty- 
seventh  of  July,  the  Serbian  army  had 
mobilized.  It  had  barely  recuperated 
from  the  recent  war  with  Bulgaria  and, 
while  men  were  in  trim  for  fighting,  the 
army  was  ill  equipped  and  to  an  extent 


■Lvr* 


SERBIA:     SIGHING 


III 


unprepared  for  a  new  war.  This  in  itself 
shows  the  folly  of  the  accusation  that 
the  Serbian  Government  had  encouraged 
the  mard  r  of  the  Archduke  in  order  to 
precipitate  a  war  with  Austria.  An  addi- 
tional bit  of  evidence  in  Serbia's  favor, 
if  more  were  needed,  was  the  fact  that 
when  the  Archduke  was  murdered,  many- 
Serbian  officials  and  other  men  of  im- 
portance were  at  German  or  Austrian 
watering-places  and  had  difficulty  in 
getting  back  to  their  homes  and  their 
duties. 

Little  of  the  war  material  destroyed  in 
the  recent  conflict  with  Bulgaria  had 
been  replaced  and  even  when  the  Serbs 
took  the  field  they  had  not  sufficient 
ammunition,  for  much  of  their  ammuni- 
tion was  French  and,  owing  to  conditions 
in  France,  the  latter  country  could  no 
longer  supply  Serbia  with  what  she  needed. 
Yet  by  the  middle  of  August  the  armies 
of  the  Crown  Prince  in  a  five  days'  en- 
gagement, the  Battle  of  Jadar,  sent  the 
Austrians  across  the  river,   and  out  of 


112 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


Serbia.  In  dead  and  %vounded  the  in- 
vaders had  lost  about  tvice  as  many  as 
the  Serbs,  as  well  as  a  large  amount  of 
ordnance  and  stores.  They  returned  in 
September,  but  after  inflicting  much 
damage  on  the  country  v/ere  again  de- 
feated and  again  dri-en  out  of  Serbia 
about  the  middle  of  December. 

Serbia,  invaded  by  an  army  three 
times  as  large  as  her  own,  fought  valiantly 
and  drove  the  Austrians  outside  her 
kingdom,  not,  however,  until  much 
damage  had  been  done.  Not  only  had  she 
many  wourded  but  the  invader  destroyed 
everything,  even  the  property  of  non- 
combatants  who  had  remained  passive  on 
their  farms.  So  viciously  had  the  Aus- 
trians treated  the  non-combatants  that 
all  who  could  fled  the  country  toward 
Macedonia.  Crops  were  seized;  cattle 
were  killed  or  taken  away;  farms  and 
implements  destroyed,  and  in  fact  the 
whole  country  was  laid  v  aste. 

Per^^aps  in  no  better  way  can  the  bar- 
barous methods  of  the  Austrian  invader 


(/> 


SERBIA:     SIGHING  1 13 

be  understood  than  from  a  quotation 
from  an  appeal  made  by  the  Serbian 
Archbishop. 

"The  barbarous   methods  of  warfare  of  the 
German  Allies,  the  object  of  which  is  to  annihilate 
other  nations  and  their  culture,   have  inflicted 
on  us.  as  well  as  on  the  Belgians,  bloody  and 
incurable  wounds.    Whole  crowds  of  our  best  and 
noblest  Serbs,  who  as  non-combatants  peacefully 
received  the  Austrian   army,   have   been   killed 
with  a  cruelty  of  which  even  savages  would  be 
ashamed.     Men  and  women,  old  men  and  inno- 
cent  children   have  been   murdered  by   terrible 
tortures,  by  arms,  and  by  fire.    Many  have  been 
locked  up  in  school  buildings  and  other  houses 
and  burnt  alive.    All  the  churches  to  which  the 
Austrians    got    access    have    been    desecrated, 
robbed,   and   destroyed.     The  schools   and  the 
best  houses  have  fared  in  the  same  way.     Bel- 
grade, the  beautiful  capital  of  Serbia,  its  churches, 
its   educational    and    humanitarian    institutions, 
have  been  destroyed.   The  university,  the  national 
library,  the  museum,  and  scientific  collections, 
have  been  ruined.    For  those  who  have  escaped, 
and  for  the  orphans  of  the  fallen,  speedy  help  is 
most  necessary." 

Said  Madame  Grouitch  an  eye  witness 
of  these  depredations,  "Imagine  the  farm- 
ing districts  of  our  Middle  States  charred 


114 


SERBIA:      A     SKETCH 


and  trampled,  and  everything  killed. 
This  would  give  you  a  faint  idea  of  Ss  bia 
after  the  Austrians  first  entered  it."  V  h<  n 
they  approached  Belgrade  at  the  vci;- 
beginning  of  the  war,  within  six  hours 
they  were  shelling  the  city  and  killing 
women  and  children.  In  other  cities, 
as  at  Shabats,  for  example,  they  did 
many  things  from  what  seemed  a  mere 
spirit  of  wantonness,  emptying  the  con- 
tents of  shops  into  the  streets  and  carry- 
ing away  property  that  could  hardly 
have  been  of  use  to  them.  But  while 
they  devastated  the  country  they  had 
entered  and  terrified  the  non-combat- 
ants, they  had  few  engagements  with  the 
Serbian  soldiers  worthy  the  name  of 
battle. 

It  was  during  this  second  invasion  that 
King  Peter  especially  endeared  himself  to 
his  men.  In  one  instance  where  they 
were  growing  disheartened,  he  entered 
the  trenches  and  discharging  his  rifle 
as  a  signal,  led  them  to  victory.  The 
Serbs  from  the  beginning  of  the  war  felt 


'v:  '^ 


»li 


t=^: 


SERBIA:     SIGHING 


115 


confidence  in  their  leaders  —  the  Crown 
Prince,  Putnik,  Misich,  Pasich,  the  king. 
The   Serbian   soldiers   were   gathering 
strength.     The  world  knew   before  this 
that  they  were  brave  fighters;   since  that 
autumn  of  1914  they  have  known  that 
they  are  unsurpassed.    Facing  an  enemy 
that   outnumbered   them   three   to   one, 
they  did  not  flinch,  and  by  the  20th  of 
December  the  Austrians  were  driven  out 
of  Serbia  — not  to  return  for  nearly  a 
year.     During  that  year,   however,   the 
Austrians    from   the   other   side   of  the 
Danube  were  constantly  bombarding  Bel- 
grade, while  the  inhabitants  for  the  most 
part  went  about  their  business  as  usual. 
The  army,  which  had  early  been  ordered 
out  of  the  city  in  a  vain  effort  to  save 
Belgrade   from  bombardment,  was   now 
putting   itself  in   good   condition.     The 
return  of  the  invaders  was  certain,  the 
time  less  sure.     All  that   Serbia  could 
do  was  to  spare  no  effort  to  put  herself 
in  the  best  condition  to  meet  the  inevi- 
table attacks  of  the  foe.     The  hospitals 


wm 


ii6 


SERBIA:       A     SKETCH 


were  full  of  wounded  and  Serbian  women 
and  nurses  from  outside  were  doing  their 
best  for  the  Serbian  soldiers  and  for  the 
many  sick  Austrian  soldiers,  when  the 
dreadful  typhus  broke  out. 

But  for  famine  and  disease  during  their 
fatal  six  months  Serbia  might  still  be 
on  her  feet.  Her  tragic  condition  inter- 
ested the  whole  world,  unwilling  to  see 
the  women  relatives  of  a  million  fighters 
suffering,  aye,  even  dying.  The  first 
invasion  resulted  in  taking  away  from 
their  home  the  majority  of  the  peasants 
who  had  remained  behind  to  p-"-  ide 
food.    The  Invaders  did  not  even  ,  t 

the  hospitals  —  they  cut  off  the  .. ater 
supplies  so  that  the  nurses  could  not  even 
provide  for  the  sick. 

During  those  months  of  disease  the 
black  flag  hung  over  hundreds  of  houses 
in  every  Serbian  town.  The  whole  coun- 
try was  demoralized,  ibr  many  officials 
had  lost  their  fives.  The  fever  was  so 
virulent  that  it  may  be  said  that  no 
country    has   ever   suffered   so   severely. 


2gJ 


mm^^^m.' 


'rKi'5<V,-?*74r5 


SERBIA:     SIGHING 


117 


The  typhus  that  broke  ou'  in  the  early 
part  of  191 5  came  from  the  bad  sanitary 
condition  of  the  Austrian  prison  camps, 
and  Serbia,  weakened  by  war,  was  in  no 
condition  to  resist.  Several  thousands  a 
day  died  in  the  early  months  of  that  year. 
In  six  of  the  most  fertile  districts,  more 
than  half  of  the  children  died  —  of  hun- 
ger, cold,  and  exposure  as  well  as  of  dis- 
ease —  and  it  was  not  until  the  Red 
Cross  physicians  and  others  from  various 
countries  took  hold,  that  the  disease 
abated. 

Meanwhile,  men  of  Serbia  were  fight- 
ing bravely  and  hopefully  until  an  ad- 
vancing wave  of  Teutons  swept  over 
the  country  and  the  populace  fled.  It 
had  been  wiser,  perhaps,  if  non-combat- 
ants had  stayed  in  their  homes,  but  so 
fearful  were  the  atrocities  reported,  the 
atrocities  committed  by  the  German 
armies  in  Belgium  and  elsewhere,  that 
retreat  seemed  wisest.  Many  Serbian 
soldiers,  however,  wished  to  stay  and 
face  the  invader  until  they  could  fight 


Ar;4t 


ii8 


SERBIA:      A     SKETCH 


no  longer.  But  they  would  have  had  to 
fight  with  three  against  their  one.  The 
hordes  rushing  on  were  beyond  belief  — 
Germans,  Austrians,  and  Bulgarians. 
The  humbler  people  might  with  less 
danger  have  stayed  behind,  but  the  Gov- 
ernment, naturally,  could  not  remain  in 
its  capital  and  there  were  many  others 
upon  whom  a  price  was  set.  When  once 
the  retreat  began  it  rolled  up  by  tens  of 
thousands,  and  this  human  flood  could 
not  be  stopped.  It  was  a  spectacular 
flight.  AH  the  private  vehicles  that  the 
Government  could  get  together;  afl  the 
motor  trucks  which  could  be  collected; 
all  in  one  great  procession,  peasants  carry- 
ing their  household  goods  in  bundles  over 
their  shoulders  —  chiefly  old  men  and 
women,  for  the  young  men  w^re  in  the 
army;  young  women  carrying  babies  in 
their  arms  with  little  children  clinging  to 
their  skirts  were  following  close  behind. 
Those  in  motor  vehicles  did  not  have 
a  painless  journey.  Often  their  cars  broke 
down;    they  were  thrown  into  the  mud 


f  V* 


SERBIA:     SIGHING 


119 


from  which  they  were  with  difficulty 
rescued.  Sometimes  a  car  and  its  occu- 
pants fell  from  the  precipice  into  the 
foaming  river  below.  They  went  over 
mountains  as  high  as  our  Alleghanies 
and  as  wild  as  our  Rockies.  Sometimes 
they  passed  feudal  castles  on  steep 
rocks;  sometimes  they  went  through 
dangerous  passes  and  slept  in  the  open, 
fearing  attacks  from  the  murderous 
Albanians,  who  were  certainly  to  be 
dreaded.  For  not  a  few  of  the  poor 
pilgrims  met  death  at  the  hands  of  these 
cut-throats.  For  days  and  days,  they 
moved  on  in  the  drenching  rain,  cold 
and  starving!  And  it  was  not  only  the 
animals  that  succumbed  to  the  horror 
of  the  march;  old  men  and  women, 
children,  and  soldiers  who  once  had 
been  strong  at  last  had  to  give  up  and 
lie  down  in  death.  Constantly  they 
were  in  dread  of  the  approaching  enemy, 
whose  guns  after  a  while  they  could 
hear  rumbhng  in  the  distance.  But 
they   kept   moving   on   toward  the   sea, 


120 


SERBIA:      A     SKETCH 


where  they  expected  ships  to  take  them 
to  a  safer  country. 

The  wraith  of  an  army  reached  the 
sea  and  the  wraith  of  an  army  ot  non- 
combatants,  —  all  of  this  suffering  merely 
to  find  a  haven  from  the  advancing  Teu- 
tonic armies!  Perhaps  those  men  were 
right  who  had  refused  to  retreat,  who  had 
begged  for  death  by  a  comrade's  gun 
rather  than  have  the  dishonor  of  turning 
backs  to  the  enemy.  Though  they  saw 
that  the  conquest  of  Serbia  was  inevi- 
table, it  was  hard  to  admit  that  they  were 
beaten.  At  last,  after  all  this  hardship, 
when  the  poor  Serbians  reached  the 
Adriatic,  they  found  no  food!  Trans- 
ports loaded  with  food  had  been  sunk 
in  the  harbors!  Weary,  starving,  they 
must  wait  a  httle  longer. 

Was  there  ever  before  such  a  flight? 
The  retreat  of  one  civilized  Nation  before 
another;  the  flight  of  a  whole  people. 
Government,  soldiers,  non-combatants, 
and  all  because  of  the  rumors  of  the 
terrors   the  pursuer  would   inflict   if  he 


K^    fn 


Q 


;^ 
z 

< 

I 

h 

/ 

C 

(/: 
K 
UJ 

0 
-I 
0 
{/> 

V. 

<, 

a 
Id 


"!..  W-r 


ML  1 


Serbia:    sighing 


121 


caught    his    prey!     At    the    sea    they 
breathed  more  freely  — they  could  look 
across  the  water  and  there,  far,  far  be- 
yond, lay  the  lands  where  for  centuries 
the  weaker  had  not  been  sorely  oppressed. 
Then  the  wraith  of  an  army  began 
to  hope;    and  on  the  island  the  soldiers 
were  recuperating,  and  the  Uttle  boys  — 
a  quarter  of  those  who  had  poured  into 
the  great  procession  from  all  the  roads, 
from    every    little    village,    from    every 
to^vn  — the  dead,  would   not   swell   the 
triumph  of  the  victors.     Those  by  the 
sea  rested  and  grew  stronger;    and  after 
a  while  the  world  began   to   hear   that 
Serbia,  deprived  of  her  country,  a  Nation 
living    in    exile,    was    getting   ready    to 
claim  her  own.     She  was  now  one  of  the 
Allies.     Her  army  could  give  an  account 
of  itself.     "Poor  Serbia!"  they  had  said. 
"Plucky  Serbia!"   they   were   now   say- 
ing, and  it  was  even  possible  to  imagine 
the  world  crying,  "Lucky  Serbia!"    The 
soldiers     recuperating     at     Corfu;      the 
women  working  at  Corsica  making  the 


122 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


wonderful  embroideries  that  had  given 
Serbia  fame  the  world  over;  the  down- 
trodden under  the  feet  of  the  Conqueror, 
living  in  shattered  dwellings  in  Serbian 
town  and  village,  and  praying,  praying 
for  the  restoration  of  their  homes,  hiding 
their  tears  while  they  worked  or  prayed 
or  nursed  tlie  sick  —  all,  all  working 
for  Serbia. 

Then  those  people  who  recognize 
heroism,  those  people  v/ho  admire  pa- 
tience and  silent  bravery,  those  people 
who  long  had  cried,  "Plucky  berbia!" 
who  had  long  been  working  for  Serbia, 
now  worked  the  harder,  and  other  workers 
joined  them,  until  there  were  few  sec- 
tions of  the  globe  where  there  was  not 
a  group  working  for  Serbia.  The  rem- 
nant of  the  army,  too,  worked  harder 
than  ever,  training,  gathering  strength, 
adding  to  its  numbers,  —  and  at  last 
it  was  ready. 


JL 


flHEN  Serbia  had  a  vision  of  the  men 
who  had  made  her  great  —  Vladimir, 
who  first  showed  that  union  is 
strength;  Michael,  her  earliest  King, 
and  Stephen  Nenianya,  who  gave  her  a  real  king- 
dom, and  Stephen  Dushan,  whose  dreams  of  a  Serb 
Empire  had  given  her  glory;  then  Lazar  Grebely- 
anovitch,  her  brave  and  generous  defender  at 
Kossovo.  Again,  after  her  long  sleep,  Karageorges, 
heroic  and  just,  grandsire  of  King  Peter;  and  last, 
Milos  Obrenovitch,  whose  cleverness  had  laid  the 
foundation  for  much  ol    her   present  good. 

Had  she  changed  too  quickly  from  the  old 
patriarchal  system  before  she  could  rightly  re- 
place it?  All  this  time,  she  now  realized  too 
well,  she  had  been  only  half-educated.  It  was 
easy  enough  for  the  great  Nations  to  criticize  her, 
forgetful  of  the  long  past  years  when  they  were 
in  her  condition,  yet  none  of  them  could  deny 
her  her  heroic  past. 

Then  Serbia  looked  toward  the  sea.  She  no 
longer  felt  the  pain  of  her  grief  and  her  bruises; 
she  was  no  longer  alone.  Friendly  hands  reached 
out  to  her  on  every  side,  and  beyond  the  sea  lay 
noble  England,  and  strong  Canada,  and  heroic 
France  —  Allies   fighting   for   her,    for   her  who 


124 


SERBIA:     A     SKETCH 


m 


might  never  be  able  to  reward  them;  and,  nearer 
to   her,    she   could   see    fair    Italy.    niap;ni(icent 
Russia,  and  brave  Montenegro  and  Roumania. 
All,  all  had  been  fighting  for  her,  for  in  fight- 
ing for  liberty,  they  fought   for  the  oppressed 
of  the  whole  world.     They   had   been   fighting 
her    battles  — the   battles   of  the   days   of   her 
strength.     And  there,   farther  off,   was   friendly 
America.     For  the   moment  she  saw   her   ideal 
State  — the   union   of   Serb   countries    into   on 
independent    National   State  — a   Serbian   or 
Croato-Serb  monarchy. 

Then,  a  shout,  a  clamor  of  voices,  "ivlonastir! 
Monastirl  Serbia!  Serbia!"  Not  a  year  since  that 
awful  retreat,  and  now  the  long  exile  was  nearing 
its  end.  King  Peter,  and  tht  Cr  >wn  Prince, 
the  Government,  the  whole  Nation  were  hurrying 
home! 

"There  is  no  death  without  the  appointed  day," 
chants  the  old  pesma.     Serbia  will  live! 


^t-^/^ 


A  Sketch 


^ 


•naf^^ 


»  ■ 

I5v  Helen  Leah  Rfed 

Author  of 
Napoleon's  Young  Neighbor,  Miss  Theodora,  etc. 

Published  for  the  benefit  of  the  Serbian  Distress 
Fund,  Boston  ,  128  pages,  five  illustrations.  Of  this 
new  book  Basil  King,  the  novelist,  who  is  deeply 
interested  in  Serbia,  writes  : 

"Of  all  liistoiies,  tliat  of  Serbia  is  least  known  to 
the  majiirity  of  American  students.  None  however 
is  more  interest  in},',  toucliin^r,  or  dramatic.  It  reads 
like  an  epic  poem.  In  it  tliere  i.s  an  Homeric  qual- 
ity. It  is  a  history  to  he  sung,  as  sung  it  was  and  is. 
.All  tills  and  much  more  is  ably  given  in  Helen 
Leah  Reed's  admirable  monograph  on  this  noble, 
patient  people.  She  has  condensed  their  story  into 
a  fnrin  which  he  who  runs  may  easily  read,  and  yet 
has  given  the  gist  of  it  to  such  a  degree  that  no 
important  character  or  event  is  missed.  From  the 
early  migration  out  of  Cialicia  to  the  tragic  flight  in 
I'M.S  she  unfolds  a  tale  as  engrossing  as  Treasure 
island.  One  admires,  one  |)ities,  one  almost  weeps, 
iliat  so  splendid  a  race  should  always  have  been 
beaten  and  buffetted  and  oppressed,  defeated  and 
frustrated,  kept  ignorant  and  poor,  and  knocked 
down  at  their  every  effort  to  rise,  is  in  its  way  a 
criticism  on  all  human  kind.  To  the  average  reader 
.Miss  Keed's  profoundly  striking  sketch  will  come 
as  a  revelation." 

For  sale  aliiihi   fiiibitiH  D«»tli  ■/  thu  AHWTla- 
-1-ir  ind  ir  thniiiinin  iif  iln  'iu\\\''^"  n;cf,,,c  |r„p^ 
555  Hoylston  Street,     f  ati.i)  ul  all -book-stores. 
Price,  7<S^^^atM> 

/f  0  u 


Wi 


wm^m 


